THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


¥n'     •        r£ 

fy^L- 1 


THE 


Westfleld  Jubilee: 


A    REPORT    OF    THE 


CELEBRATION  AT  WESTFIELD,  MASS., 

ON  THE 

TWO     HUNDREDTH     ANNIVERSARY 

®f  %  ^Incorporation  of  fye 


OCTOBER     6,     1869, 


WITH  THE 


HISTORICAL    ADDRESS 


HON.    WILLIAM    G.    BATES, 


AND  OTIIEK 


SPEECHES    AND    POEMS    OF    THE    OCCASION, 

ilHtl)  an  TVppcnMv, 

Containing  Historical   Documents  of  Local   Interest. 


WESTFIELD,  MASS.: 
CLARK   &   STO11Y,   PUBLISHERS. 

1870. 


F 


WESTFIELD,  January  1,  1870. 
HON.  WILLIAM.  G.  BATES  : 

Dear  Sir, — At  a  meeting  of  the  Bi-Centennial  General  Committee, 
held  November  20,  1869,  the  following  resolves  were  adopted  unani- 
mously, viz.: 

1.  That  in  behalf  of  the  town  of  Westfield,  the  thanks  of  this  Committee  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Hon.  William  G.  Bates,  for  his  able  and  eloquent  historical  address ;    and 
that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

2.  That  a  Committee  of  Publication  be  appointed  by  this  Committee,  to  prepare  for 
the  press,  and  publish  the  proceedings  of  the  Bi-Centennial  Celebration,  including  the 
address  of  the  Hon.  William  G.  Bates,  and  such  accompanying  notes  and  documents  as 
may  be  of  permanent  interest  and  value  to  the  citizens  and  former  residents  of  Westfield. 

Voted,  That  Dr.  J.  Abbott,  EdWard  B.  Gillett  and  Thomas  Kneil  constitute  the 
Committee  of  Publication. 

In  accordance  with  the  above,  we  have  the  honor  of  soliciting  a  copy 
of  your  very  excellent  and  able  address  at  the  Bi-Centennial  Celebra- 
tion, held  October  6,  1869,  of  the  incorporation  of  our  ancient  and  be- 
loved town,  for  publication. 

We  shall  also  be  pleased,  if  you  can  accompany  it  with  such  "  notes 
and  documents  "  in  your  possession  as  "  may  be  of  permanent  interest 
and  value  to  the  citizens  and  former  residents  of  Westfield,"  and  we 
are  persuaded  it  will  be  your  pleasure  to  present  such  to  the  public  in 
connection  therewith. 

Yours  respectfully, 

JEHIEL  ABIJOTT, 

E.  B.  GILLETT, 
T.  KNEIL. 


1J23326 


WESTFIELD,  January  1,  1870. 

HONS.  JEtriEL.AnnoTT,  EDWARD  B.  GILLETT  AND  THOMAS  KNEIL, 
Committee  of  Publication,  §*e.  : 

Gentlemen, — The  historical  address,  of  which  you  request  a  copy  for 
publication,  is  at  your  disposal,  with  my  thanks  for  the  approbation 
which  has  been  extended  to  it  by  my  fellow-townsmen,  and  to  yourselves, 
for  your  kindly  expression  of  it. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  address,  only  a  part  of  which  could  have 
been  delivered,  with  a  proper  regard  for  the  other  exercises  of  the  day, 
a  general  exploration  was  made  for  the  discovery  of  historical  facts; 
and,  in  the  investigation,  many  documents,  papers  and  records  were 
brought  to  light,  which  were  new  to  me,  and  which,  in  my  opinion,  should 
be  collected  and  preserved  for  future  use.  The  records  of  our  own 
town  are  in  a  dilapidated  and  decaying  condition,  and  they  need  the 
immediate  care  of  a  fond  antiquary  to  rescue  them  from  a  speedy  ob- 
livion. The  publication  of  all  the  materials  which  I  have  gathered, 
which  relate  to  the  early  incidents,  the  original  settlers,  and,  in  fine, 
the  history  of  the  town,  would  form  a  large  volume;  but  I  cheerfully 
render  to  you  from  the  collection,  what,  I  trust,  will  be  of  a  general  in- 
terest to  our  present  population,  and,  still  more,  to  all  the  former  inhab- 
itants of  Westfield. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  with  respect,  &c.,  your  obedient, 

WILLIAM  G.  BATES. 


Introduction. 


THE  history  of  a  town  consists  of  facts,  ordinarily,  so 
scattered  and  disconnected,  as  to  be  sought  out  and  gath- 
ered with  great  difficulty.  In  preparing  the  history  of  an 
old  town, — one,  which  was  founded  within  a  half  century 
of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims, — there  is  a  still  greater 
difficulty  in  the  collection  of  materials,  and  more  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  facts  and  conclusions. 
The  early  records  of  the  older  towns  were  very  imper- 
fectly kept ;  many  important  facts  were  but  partially 
stated,  and  "time's  decaying  fingers"  have  obliterated 
and  removed  many  irrecoverable  fragments  from  the 
originally  too  scanty  pages. 

In  preparing  for  the  celebration  of  the  two  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  Westfield,  much  time 
and  labor  were  expended  in  the  examination  of  the  papers 
and  records  of  the  town,  and  of  the  ancestral  town  of 
Springfield.  A  search  was  also  prosecuted  among  the 
papers,  documents  and  records  of  Springfield,  and  those 
deposited  in  the  archives  of  the  commonwealth;  and 
some  important  facts  were  there  obtained,  which  are  new 
to  the  public. 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

Information  of  a  traditionary  character,  also,  was  sought 
from  some  of  the  old  inhabitants  ;  and  many  old  papers, 
illustrating  the  early  history  of  the  town,  were  obtained 
from  their  descendants.  It  was  a  matter  of  deep  regret 
to  have  been  informed,  that  valuable  papers  for  historical 
purposes,  had  been  destroyed,  from  time  to  time,  as  of  no 
supposed  importance. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  committee  of  the  town,  and,  also, 
in  that  of  very  many  of  our  citizens,  a  collection  of  facts, 
gathered  with  much  labor,  and  at  considerable  expense, 
and  collected  and  arranged  in  a  methodical  manner  for 
future  reference,  should  be  embodied  in  some  permanent 
form.  Such  a  volume  will  constitute  an  enduring  record 
of  our  early  history,  for  which  the  future  generations  of 
those,  who  are  here  to  live  after  us,  will  be  thankful  to  us. 
The  celebration  itself  will  be  a  landmark  in  the  history 
of  our  ancient  town  ;  and,  however  humble  may  be  the 
individuals  who  participated  in  the  celebration,  either  as 
contributors  to  the  facts,  fancy,  sentiment,  or  history, 
which  were  displayed,  or  who  came  merely  as  visitors 
from  distant  homes  to  the  old  hearth-stone  of  their  race, 
the  memorial  of  their  names,  connected  with  the  events, 
which  transpired  upon  this  eventful  historical  day,  will 
be  a  record  which  will  be  appreciated  more  and  more 
highly,  as  advancing  ages  shall  enhance  the  interest  of  pos- 
terity in  the  history  of  their  ancestors. 

We  can  not  but  have  noticed  an  awakened  interest  in 
the  people  of  New  England,  in  their  genealogical  record. 
In  the  days  of  the  founders  of  our  colonial  nation,  they 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

were  not  solicitous  for  the  details  of  its  future  history. 
Their  hands  were  fully  occupied  with  their  present  re- 
sponsibilities. Although  they  never  doubted  the  ultimate 
success  of  the  efforts,  to  which  they  had  consecrated 
themselves,  yet  "to  be,  or  not  to  be,"  was  with  them,  in- 
dividually, the  important  question.  But,  at  the  present 
day,  when  their  most  fanciful  imaginings  have  been  more 
than  realized,  in  the  wide-spreading  extent  of  our  Union, 
and  in  the  well-adapted  powers  of  our  Constitution,  for 
the  government  of  the  nation,  however  widely  extended 
may  be  its  territorial  boundaries,  their  early  history  has 
become  invested  with  a  fascinating  interest.  We  would 
gladly  know  the  minute  'history  of  those  from  whom  we 
sprang.  Their  appearance,  their  dress,  their  manner  of 
life,  and  their  daily  thoughts  arouse  our  eager  curiosity ; 
and  we  would  rejoice  to  snatch  the  most  trifling  circum- 
stances, connected  with  them,  from  oblivion.  Along 
with  this  desire  to  bring  forward,  and  produce  before  us, 
the  faded  pictures  of  the  past,  comes  the  correlative  wish, 
to  perpetuate  the  present,  for  the  eye  of  posterity.  This 
desire  discloses  itself  in  various  manifestations  of  action. 
When  the  foundations  are  laid  of  some  memorial  column, 
or  an  edifice  of  a  public  character,  and,  sometimes  even, 
for  the  purposes  of  business,  a  corner-stone  is  placed  with 
imposing  ceremonials;  and,  in  a  nicely-chiseled  chamber, 
are  deposited  the  various  specimens  of  art,  science,  litera- 
ture and  commerce,  which  illustrate  the  characteristics, 
or  uses  of  the  age.  We  have,  upon  the  present  occasion, 
a  collection  of  historical  facts,  which  are  interesting  to 


Viii  INTRODUCTION. 

us.  Of  how  much  higher  interest  will  they  be  to  those 
who  will  be  the  future  inhabitants  of  Westfield,  in  the 
generations  which  are  to  come. 

The  committee,  therefore,  requested  their  chairman  to 
arrange  and  publish  the  addresses,  poems,  and  other  ex- 
ercises in  the  church,  the  historical  discourse  prepared  in 
pursuance  of  the  vote  of  the  town,  the  speeches  deliv- 
ered at  the  public  dinner,  the  documents  and  letters  of 
reply  from  absent  and  self-exiled  citizens,  who  traveled 
many  hundreds  of  miles  to  revive  early  recollections,  and  to 
renew  youthful  friendships, — in  short,  all  the  facts  and 
proceedings,  connected  with  the  celebration,  which  would 
impart  an  interest  to  an  occasion,  in  which  so  many  par- 
ticipated, and  which  will  be  remembered  by  some  of  them, 
as  one  of  the  bright  days  of  their  lives. 


Preliminary  Proceedings. 


FOR  several  years,  prior  to  the  year  1869,  the  at- 
tention of  many  of  the  citizens  of  Westfield  had  been 
called  to  the  subject  of  celebrating  the  two  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town ;  and 
there  was  a  general  wish,  on  the  part  of  the  people,  to 
engage  in  it.  It  was  at  times  mentioned  in  the  news- 
papers, and  the  idea  was  thus  communicated  to  many 
of  the  natives  of  the  town,  who  had  removed  to  foreign 
and  distant  abodes.  Many  of  them  seemed  to  mani- 
fest an  interest  in  the  proposed  celebration,  and 
promised  to  give  their  attendance  upon  the  occasion. 
Both  these  persons,  and  the  present  residents,  antici- 
pated much  pleasure  in  a  proposed  family  gathering, 
which  should  bring  face  to  face,  those  who  had  been 
long  separated,  and,  indeed,  those,  who  were  wholly 
strangers  to  each  other. 

At  last,  in  the  month  of  June,  1869,  at  the  request 
of  several  of  our  citizens,  an  article  was  inserted  in 
a  warrant  for  a  town-meeting,  to  be  held  on  the  third 
day  of  July  then  next,  to  see  what  measures  the  town 
would  adopt  for  celebrating  the  two  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  its  incorporation.  The  meeting  was  held 
accordingly.  It  was  a  large,  and  an  intelligent  one. 
The  subject  was  discussed  in  a  free  and  an  earnest 
manner,  and  there  was,  we  believe,  an  unanimous 
feeling  in  favor  of  the  proposed  celebration.  There 


10  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

was,  of  course,  a  difference  of  opinion  expressed,  as 
to  the  manner  of  conducting  it ;  but,  upon  a  full  inter- 
change of  opinion,  the  following  record  expresses  the 
result,  which  was  aimed  at,  with  an  entire  unanimity : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants,  legal  voters  of  the  town  of  West- 
field,  holden  July  3,  1869,  Jehiel  Abbott,  moderator,  it  was — 

Voted,  That  the  town  celebrate  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  incorporation  of  the  town. 

Voted,  That  a  committee  of  twenty  be  appointed  by  the  chair,  to  re- 
port to  the  town,  at  an  adjourned  meeting,  some  plan  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town, 
and  report  the  names  of  any  necessary  committees. 

The  chair  appointed  the  following  named  gentlemen,  to  act  as  that 
committee,  in  accordance  with  the  preceding  votes  : 


Hon.  William  G.  Bates, 
Col.  David  Moseley, 
Henry  J.  Bush, 
Silas  Root, 
Lucius  F.  Thaj-er, 
Maj.  George  Taylor, 
Lyman  Lewis, 


Samuel  Fowler,  Esq., 
George  E.  Knapp, 
John  Fowler, 
Frederick  Fowler, 
Joseph  M.  Ely, 
Hon. -Thomas  Kneil, 
David  Drake, 


William  Noble, 
John  B.  Bancroft, 
Dr.  James  Holland, 
Reuben  Noble, 
Henry  B.  Lewis,  Esq., 
Charles  H.  Bush. 


At  an  adjourned  meeting,  holden  July  17,  1869,  it  was — 
Voted,  to  accept  and  adopt  the  report  of  Hon.  William  G.  Bates, 
chairman,  which  wa.s  as  follows : 

REPORT. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the' town,  to  consider 
and  recommend  to  the  town  what  measures  shall  be  adopted  for  the 
celebration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of 
the  town  of  Westfield,  which  meeting  was  held  at  the  office  of  William 
G.  Bates,  on  the  evening  of  the  9th  and  10th  of  July  instant,  it  was — 

Voted,  1.  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  the  interest  and 
the  honor  of  the  town  demand,  that  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  incorporation  of  the  town  of  Westfield  should  be  celebrated  and 
be  observed  as  a  holiday,  by  our  present  inhabitants,  on  Wednesday, 
the  first  day  of  October  next ;  and  that  those  citizens,  who  have  emi- 
grated herefrom  to  other  and  distant  states,  and  also  their  descendants 
and  families, — indeed  all,  who  trace  their  life-blood  from  this  then 
westernmost  frontier  post  of  civilization, — be  invited  to  revisit  the  place  of 
their  ancestry,  and  mingle  with  us  here  in  a  most  interesting  reunion. 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS. 


11 


Voted,  2.  That  a  committee,  consisting  of  the  following  persons,  be 
appointed  by  the  town,  which  committee  shall  have  authority  to  fill 
vacancies,  to  appoint  sub-committees  in  those  of  their  own  numbers,  or 
of  other  persons,  to  arrange  and  superintend  the  order  of  the  celebra- 
tion, and  to  appoint  some  suitable  person  to  prepare  an  historical  address : 
to  solicit,  from  the  many  very  eminent  citizens,  who  have  heretofore  gone 
out  from  us,  personal  reminiscences  and  communications,  scatter  abroad 
to  them  an  invitation  to  our  hospitalities,  and  provide  the  entertainment 
proper  for  the  occasion. 

Voted,  3.  That,  in  addition  to  the  contributions,  which  we  are  as- 
sured will  be  made  by  hospitable  and  zealous  citizens  of  the  town,  to- 
wards the  expenses  of  this  interesting  jubilee,  we  recommend,  that  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town,  in  their  corporate  capacity,  in  aid  of  individuals, 
authorize  their  selectmen  to  draw  their  orders  for  such  sums  as  may 
be  necessary  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  same,  not  exceeding  five 
thousand  dollars.  For  the  committee, 

WILLIAM  G.  BATES,  Chairman. 

Names  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  adoption  of  the  foregoing 
report : 


William  G.  Bates, 
Maj.  George  Taylor, 
Col.  Silas  Root, 
Capt.  Frederick  Fowler, 
Col.  David  Moseley, 
Joseph  M.  Ely, 
Cutler  Laflin, 
Reuben  Noble, 
George  E.  Knapp, 
John  B.  Bancroft, 
Hon.  Thomas  Kneil, 
'  Dr.  Jehiel  Abbott, 


Dr.  James  Holland, 
Hon.  Edward  B.  Gillett, 
Henry  J.  Bush, 
Henry  Loomis, 
Horace  Ensign, 
Henry  Hubbard, 
Frederick  Bush, 
Elihu  Gaylord, 
Lucius  F.  Thayer, 
Henry  B.  Smith, 
Hiram  Fowler, 
James  C.  Greenougli, 


Elijah  Owen,  Jr., 
John  Gillett, 
Thomas  Cowles, 
Samuel  Horton, 
Samuel  Fowler, 
Lewis  R.  Norton, 
Darwin  L.  Gillett, 
Hon.  Henry  Fuller, 
George  Green, 
L.  B.  Blood, 
Joseph  Woolworth. 


Voted,  That  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  of  Southwick,  Russell  and 
Montgomery,  which  formerly  constituted  portions  of  the  town  of  West- 
field,  be  cordially  invited  to  unite  with  us  in  making  that  day  memora- 
ble, which  is  endeared  to  the  citizens  of  all  those  towns  by  so  many 
soul-thrilling  associations. 

Voted,  That  the  moderator  nominate  three  persons  from  the  com- 
mittee this  day  appointed,  who  shall  be  a  finance  committee,  to  audit 
and  approve  all  bills,  incurred  in  carrying  out  the  proposed  celebration, 
and  that  the  selectmen  draw  their  orders  for  no  bills,  unless  approved 
by  the  finance  committee,  or  a  majority  of  the  same. 


12 


WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 


Cutler  Laflin,  Col.  David  Moseley  and  Reuben  Noble  were  chosen 
such  finance  committee. 

Voted,  That  the  town  invite  Hon.  William  G.  Bates  to  deliver  the 
address  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration. 

At  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  town,  holden  August  28, 18G9,  it  was 

Voted,  To  amend  the  vote  whereby  the  town  voted  to  celebrate  the 
two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  on  Wednes- 
day, the  first  day  of  October  next,  so  that  the  time  shall  be  fixed  to 
Wednesday,  the  sixth  day  of  October  next. 

Voted,  To  excuse  Hon.  Henry  Fuller  from  serving  on  the  com- 
mittee on  the  celebration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
incorporation  of  the  town. 

WILLIAM  H.  FOOTE,  Town  Clerk. 

A  true  copy  of  record — Attest, 

WILLIAM  H.  FOOTE,  Town  Clerk. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  town-meeting,  the 
committee  held  a  session,  and  appointed  the  following 
sub-committees,  to  arrange  and  carry  out  the  parts 
of  the  general  programme.  The  committes  were  thus 
constituted : 


COMMITTEE    ON    TENT   AND    ENTERTAINMENT. 


Frederick  Bush, 
L.  F.  Thayer, 

George  Green, 
II.  B.  Stevens, 

Cutler  Laflin, 


William  G.  Bates, 
David  Moseley, 
James  Holland, 


Thomas  Kneil, 
H.  B.  Smith, 


L.  R.  Norton, 
Henry  J.  Bush, 

COMMITTEE    ON    MUSIC. 

J.  R.  Gladwin, 
H.  M.  Miller, 


Samuel  Horton. 


J.  G.  Scott, 
E.  B.  Smith. 


COMMITTEE    ON    PRINTING. 

|  D.  L.  Gillett,  I  J.  C.  Greenough. 

COMMITTEE    ON    INVITATIONS. 


Joseph  M.  Ely, 
Samuel  Fowler, 


E.  B.  Gillett, 
G.  L.  Laflin. 


EXECUTIVE    COMMITTEE. 

Samuel  Fowler,  C.  K.  Sanborn. 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS. 


13 


COMMITTEE    ON    RECEPTION    OF    GUESTS. 


N.  T.  Leonard, 
H.  Hooker, 
C.  A.  Jessup, 


L.  B.  Blood, 
D.  L.  Gillett, 
George  L.  Laflin, 


J.  M.  Moseley, 
M.  Loomis, 
David  Lamberton. 


COMMITTEE   ON    DECORATION. 


L.  F.  Thayer, 
John  M.  Moseley, 
Andrew  Campbell,  2d, 
W.  H.  Foote, 
W.  A.  Johnson, 
A.  C.  Rand, 


Henry  Pease, 
Charles  F.  Fowler, 
G.  Knapp, 
E.  B.  Smith, 
C.  I.  Snow, 
L.  H.  Beals, 


Arthur  Crane, 
W.  H.  Atkins, 
Albert  N.  Brass, 
E.  W.  Dickerman, 
Emerson  Jessup. 


COMMITTEE  TO  ARRANGE  THE  ORDER  OF  PROCESSION  AND  EXERCISES 
IN  THE  CHURCH. 


Cutler  Laflin, 

William  G.  Bates, 
E.*B.  Gillett, 

Cutler  Laflin, 


Thomas  Kneil, 


Frederick  Bush. 


COMMITTEE    ON    SENTIMENTS. 


Thomas  Kneil, 
M.  B.  Whitney, 


J.  W.  Dickinson. 


COMMITTEE    ON    FINANCE. 

Reuben  Noble, 


David  Moseley. 


The  following  gentlemen  were  appointed  officers 
of  the  day:  PRESIDENT. 


Maj.  George  Taylor, 
J.  M.  Ely, 
Silas  Root, 
Thomas  Ashley, 
N.  T.  Leonard, 
Oliver  Moseley, 
Franklin  Arthur, 
Ambrose  Day, 
Elihu  Gaylord, 
Samuel  Drake, 
Seth  Cowles, 


Hon.  James  Fowler. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Dr.  Jehiel  Abbott, 
Dennis  Hedges, 
Hon.  E.  B.  Gillett, 
Hon.  Thos.  Kneil, 
Hon.  M.  B.  Whitney, 
Hiram  Fox, 
Hon.  David  Moseley, 
Henry  B.  Smith, 
Col   Orrin  Parks, 
Dr.  J.  W.  Rockwell 
of  South  wick, 

MARSHAL. 

Major  Frederick  Bush. 


Reuben  Noble, 
James  Noble,  1st, 
A.  B.  Whitman, 
F.  Fowler, 
Alonzo  Allen, 
Elijah  Ensign, 
Hiram  Owen, 
Roland  Parks  of 

Russell, 
Octalony  Moore  of 

Montgomery. 


14  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 


Samuel  Dow, 
Andrew  Campbell,  1st, 


ASSISTANT    MARSHALS. 

A.  F.  Powers, 
L.  13.  Walkley, 

TOAST    MASTER. 

Hon.  Thomas  Kneil. 


J.  M.  Moseley, 
F.  D.  Bush. 


The  committee  upon  invitations'.,  issued  a  circular, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  copy,  which  was  also 
printed  in  the  Western  Ilampden  Times,  and  the 
News  Letter,  the  two  village  papers  published  in  West- 
field,  which  notices  were  sent  by  mail  to  every  known 
family  who  had  formerly  lived  in  Westfield.  A  re- 
quest was  also  published,  addressed  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town,  and  the  friends  of  any  of  them,  to 
furnish  the  committee  with  any  additional  names  of 
persons,  to  whom  they  might  wish  to  have  invita- 
tions sent,  the  intention  being  to  extend  the  summons 
to  every  former  resident,  wherever  situated.  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  copy  of  the  invitation : 

The  Second  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the 
town  occurring  during  the  present  year,  it  has  been  decided  by  vote  of 
the  town,  to  celebrate  the  event,  and  to  circulate  the  notice  as  widely 
as  possible  among  the  former  citizens  and  their  descendants. 

All  such  are  cordially  invited -to  meet  with  us  here,  on  the  sixth  day 
of  October  next,  and  participate  in  the  exercises,  with  the  assurance 
of  a  hearty  welcome,  both  public  and  private.  Every  effort  will  be  ex- 
erted to  make  the  occasion  interesting  and  profitable,  and  the  stay  of 
our  guests  agreeable ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  gathering  of  those  who 
have  wandered  to  great  distances,  and  have  been  long  separated,  will 
warm  the  heart  and  quicken  the  feeling  of  common  interest  and  union. 

WILLIAM  G.  BATES, 
DAVID  MOSELEY, 


JAMES  HOLLAND, 
JOSEPH  M.  ELY, 
SAMUEL  FOWLER, 
EDW.  B.  GILLETT, 
Wesifidd,  1869.  GEORGE  L.  LAFLIN, 


Committee 


on 


Invitations. 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  15 

Editorial  notices  of  the  meeting  appeared  in  each 
number  of  the  papers,  inviting  a  general  attendance, 
and  also  requesting  information  of  the  names  and 
residences  of  former  inhabitants. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  invitation,  which  was 
sent  or  given  to  each  guest  from  abroad: 

1669  18G9 


O 


>&'*-'  ^^ 

'»^^  ~l        t      A.  ^^ 


Wesifieldj  MmssmcfanseU®, 

October  6th,  I860. 


To 


Your  attendance  and  participation  in  this  Festival  is  respectfully 
and  cordially  requested. 

The  presentation  of  this  note  will  secure  admission  to  all  the 
exercises,  including  the  collation. 

An  early  reply  is  especially  solicited. 
WILLIAM  G.  BATES, 

Chairman  Committee  on  Invitations. 

The  committee  arranged  the  following  programme 
for  the  exercises  of  the  occasion,  which  was  published 
and  widely  circulated  by  bills,  and  in  the  newspapers : 

PROGRAMME. 

1.  Forty  guns  will  be  fired,  and  the  bells  of  the  several  churches 
rung  at  sunrise. 


1C  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

2.  The  Procession  will  form  in  front  of  the  Woronoco  House  at  9^ 
o'clock,  A.  M.,  and  march  up  Elm  to  Franklin  Street,  thence  to  Wash- 
ington, thence  to  Court,  through  Court  to  the  church,  in  the  following 
order:  1.  Platoon  of  Police.  2.  Cavalcade.  3.  Gilmore's  Band. 

4.  Returned  Veteran   Corps.      5.  Firemen.      G.  Town  Authorities. 
7.  Teachers  of  Normal  and  Public  Schools.     8.  Committee  of  Ar- 
rangements.    9.  Reverend  Clergy.     10.  President  and  Orator  of  the 
Day.     11.  Invited  Guests.     12.  Citizens  of  other  Towns.     13.   Citi- 
zens of  the  Town. 

Maj.  F.  Bush  was  Marshal,  and  Col.  L.  B.  Walkley, 

5.  Dow,  A.  Campbell,  1st,  A.  F.  Powers,  J.  M.  Moseley, 
F.  D.  Bush,  aids  to  the  Marshal.      At  the  church  the 
order  of  exercises  was  as  follows : 

1.  Voluntary  on  the  Organ. 

2.  Voluntary  by  the  Choir. 

3.  Address  by  the  President,  Hon.  James  Fowler. 

4.  Invocation  by  Rev.  H.  Hopkins. 

5.  Reading  the  Holy  Scriptures  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Mansfield, 

6.  Original  Hymn  by  the  Choir. 

7.  Address  of  Welcome  by  Hon.  E.  B.  Gillett. 

8.  Reply  by  J.  B.  Eldredge,  Esq.  of  Hartford. 

9.  Reading  of  Original  Poetry. 

10.  Singing  by  the  Choir,  "Two  Hundred  Years  Ago." 

11.  Oration  by  Hon.  William  G.  Bates. 

12.  Music  by  the  Band. 

13.  Prayer  by  Rev.  E.  H.  Richardson. 

14.  Doxology. 

15.  Benediction. 

On  the  Saturday  preceding  the  memorable  day,  a 
storm  of  rain  commenced,  and  continued  through 
Sunday  and  Monday.  The  rivers  rose  to  an  unprece- 
dented hight.  The  levee,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Great  River,  was  overflowed,  and  carried  away  by  the 
current,  and  the  water  rushed  through  the  streets  and 
gardens  in  the  meadows,  northerly  of  Franklin  Street, 
carrying  off  fences,  property,  and,  in  some  cases, 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  17 

buildings,  in  its  terrible  inundations.  Alarm  bells 
were  rung,  and  the  people  congregated  to  rescue 
property,  secure  buildings,  and  to  save  life.  The 
railroads  were  partially  submerged,  and  portions  of 
them  were  swept  away.  The  transportation  of  freights 
and  passengers  was  arrested,  and  many  of  those,  who 
had  signified  their  intention  to  unite  with  us,  and  who 
had  traveled  long  distances  for  the  purpose,  were 
compelled  to  stop  in  their  journey  hither;  and, — 
finding  that  the  means  of  conveyance  were  not 
seasonably  opened, — to  return,  disappointed,  to  their 
homes. 

In  very  many  cases,  this  was  a  severe  disappoint- 
ment. Persons  from  "down  East,"  who  had  come 
as  far  as  Boston,  and  from  the  West, — from  west- 
ern New  York,  from  Ohio,  from  Illinois,  and  the 
Mississippi,  —  were  thus  arrested  in  their  course. 
Some  of  them  returned  at  once  to  their  homes ; 
others  procured  other  modes  of  conveyance,  and 
by  circuitous  roads,  arrived  during,  and .  after  the 
exercises.  Some  set  forth  on  foot,  and  with  many 
a  weary  mile  of  travel,  reached  town  in  season; 
and  many  more  waited  for  the  cars,  and  came  when 
the  cars  came,  too  late  to  join  their  friends  in  the 
celebration.  Arrangements  were  made,  however,  for 
a  reunion.  On  the  evening  of  the  6th,  an  invita- 
tion \vas  extended  for  a  meeting  at  the  house  of 
Mr.  Bates ;  and,  on  the  evening  of  the  7th,  the  large 
and  elegant  house  of  Mr.  Lucius  F.  Thayer  was  thrown 
open  for  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  whether  of 
the  present  or  the  past. 

An  unfortunate  incident  also  occurred,  in  defeating 
the  arrangements,  in  part,  for  the  comfort  and  pleas- 
ure of  the  guests.  We  had  engaged  Gilmore's  Band 


18  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

of  Boston,  to  take  part  in  the  exercises;  the  members 
made  an  effort  to  reach  their  place  of  engagement,  but 
they  were  compelled  to  return.  A  part  of  the  enter- 
tainment for  the  guests  at  the  table  was  also  engaged 
to  be  forwarded  from  Boston  and  New  Haven;  but, 
from  the  same  cause,  we  were  disappointed  in  its 
reception. 

It  will  readily  be  supposed,  that  though  the  rain,  on 
the  morning  of  the  6th,  had  abated,  and  the  sun  shone 
forth  with  new  brilliancy,  yet  that  doubt  hung  over 
our  councils,  in  reference  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
day.  The  committee  were  hastily  convened  for  an 
ultimate  decision ;  some  few  persons  favored  a  post- 
ponement to  the  next,  or  a  future  day ;  but  a  little 
consideration  determined  the  conclusion  to  go  for- 
ward; and,  although  we  could  not  do  all  that  was 
desired  for  the  pleasure  of  our  friends,  it  was  deter- 
mined to  do  all  that  we  could,  to  make  the  occasion  a 
pleasant  one.  Accordingly,  at  10£  o'clock,  an  hour 
later  than  the  announcement  of  the  programme, 
the  procession  was  formed,  and  marched  to  the  First 
Congregational  Church.  The  partitioning  doors, 
which  separated,  ordinarily,  the  auditorium  from  the 
chapel,  were  raised,  and  the  whole  building  was 
closely  filled,  from  front  to  rear,  with  an  appreciative 
audience. 

The  following  extracts  are  taken  from  the  editorial 
account  of  the  celebration,  published  in  the  Western 
Hampden  Times  of  October  6,  1869,  with  a  few 
verbal  alterations,  made  by  the  consent  of  the  author : 

In  this  country  where  everything  is  comparatively 
new,  where  many  populous  cities  were  mere  hamlets 
a  score  of  years  ago,  a  town  two  hundred  years  old 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  19 

may  be  considered  to  have  attained  a  respectable  de- 
gree of  antiquity;  and  it  seemed  fitting  that  this 
birthday  of  our  venerable  town  should  be  honored 
with  more  than  a  passing  mention;  that  we  should 
pause  in  our  activities,  and  give  a  retrospective  glance 
along  the  way  whence  we  have  come  from  a  precari- 
ous beginning  to  an  assured  and  growing  pros- 
perity; that  we  should  make  this  an  occasion  for 
rekindling  our  altar-fires,  for  fanning  into  new  life 
the  smouldering  embers  of  old  friendships,  and  for 
the  reuniting  of  sundered  ties;  an  occasion  for  call- 
ing home  the  scattered  sons  and  daughters  of  old 
Westfield,  to  return  and  sit  once  more  at  their 
mother's  feet,  and  revive  the  love  that  once  they 
bore  her;  to  forget  all'  bitterness,  and  meet  as  in 
a  common  home,  on  the  level  of  a  common  brother- 
hood. 

To  this  end  appropriations  were  made  by  the  town 
authorities,  a  committee  of  arrangements  appointed, 
and  various  measures  instituted  to  render  the  day 
enjoyable.  Cordial  letters  of  invitation  were  sent  to 
all  emigrants  from  Westfield,  known  to  the  com- 
mittee, and  weeks  ago  the  mustering  of  the  clans 
commenced.  So  widely  had  time  diffused  the  old 
stock,  that  representatives  came  from  every  part  of 
the  country;  from  western  prairies,  southern  savan- 
nahs, and  even  the  Pacific  States. 

Old  men  and  women,  long  exiled,  came  to  take  the 
last  look  of  the  old  place ;  many  a  young  matron, 
who  went  away  a  bride,  came  proudly  carrying  her 
children  with  her;  in  many  a  household  happy  tears 
were  shed  as  the  "  boys  "  came  home,  whose  feet  had 
so  long  been  strangers  to  the  threshold;  on  the  street 
were  witnessed  sudden  greetings  and  hearty  hand- 


20  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

shakings,  and  middle-aged  men  smoothed  out  their 
wrinkles  and  grew  young  again,  as  they  laughed  to- 
gether over  their  boyish  "scrapes,"  or  recounted  the 
flirtations  of  the  old  Academy  days;  some,  alas,  came 
back  to  green  graves  and  desolate  homes, — perhaps, 
to  find  the  very  homestead  had  vanished  before  the 
march  of  improvement ;  but  here,  as  nowhere  else, 
could  they  "  walk  in  soul "  with  those  gone  before, 
and,  although  they  could  not  but  sigh  over  Time's 
mutations,  grateful  for  the  love  still  left  them  they 
grow  happy  in  the  joy  of  others.  One  and  all  seemed 
imbued  with  a  desire  to  enjoy  to  the  utmost,  this,  the 
only  centennial  anniversary  which  they  would  ever 
know. 

Up  to  Saturday  night  last,  all  preparations  for  the 
jubilee  went  on  successfully ;  during  that  night,  com- 
menced the  unprecedented  storm  that  has  desolated 
so  large  a  portion  of  our  beautiful  town,  leaving  in 
place  of  faultless  highways,  well-kept  gardens  and 
trim  lawns,  gullied  roads,  broken  walks,  piled  up 
masses  of  rubbish  and  pools  of  foul  water.  This 
unexpected  calamity  has  carried  grief  into  many 
households,  and  a  gloom  has  overspread  the  eji- 
tire  community;  the  blow  is  felt  the  more  keenly 
that  it  fell  in  the  midst  of  a  general  rejoicing 
over  family  reunions,  or  a  happy  expectation  of  the 
same. 

The  preparations  for  the  celebration  were  in  too 
advanced  a  stage  to  admit  of  its  postponement ;  there- 
fore, while  many  of  the  minor  details  by  which 
we  had  hoped  to  enliven  the  entertainment  were 
necessarily  omitted,  the  main  programme  was  ad- 
hered to. 

The  morning  was  ushered  in  by  a  salvo  of  artillery 


PRELIMINARY   PROCEEDINGS.  21 

and  the  merry  clangor  of  bells, — an  appropriate  wel- 
come to  such  a  luscious,  golden  day,  one  of  royal 
October's  brightest  gifts. 

THE  INVINCIBLES. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  "  Invincible  Phalanx  of  An- 
cient and  Honorables,"  headed  by  the  last  of  the 
aborigines,  made  their  merry  march  through  the 
streets, — some  of  their  costumes  faithful  copies  of  those 
of  "ye  olden  time,"  others  of  a  nondescript  and 
ridiculous  nature,  which  brought  forth  peals  of  laugh- 
ter from  the  spectators ;  their  big  drum  and  ear-split- 
ting fife  furnished  a  fitting  accompaniment  to  their 
laughable  ride.  At  an  early  hour,  the  "green"  pre- 
sented an  appearance  of  gayety  quite  unparalleled  in 
Westfield  annals.  The  big  tent,  with  flying  flags, 
shone  conspicuous;  members  of  the  different  com- 
mittees were  hurrying  about,  putting  the  finishing 
touches  to  their  arrangements  ;  crowds  of  people  from 
the  adjoining  towns  were  gathered  in  bright  groups 
upon  the  sidewalks,  and  a  continuous  line  of  vehicles 
reached  far  along  the  principal  streets  ;  nature  still 
wore  her  summer  green,  somewhat  the  worse  for 
wear,  it  is  true,  but  brightened  here  and  there  by  a 
scarlet  branch,  as  if  to  show  her  sympathy  with  our 
festivities. 

THE  PROCESSION. 

The  company  of  Veterans,  under  command  of  Capt. 
Solomon,  now  appeared,  their  bayonets  Hashing  in 
the  sunlight,  their  tattered  banners,  every  rent  of 
which  represented  a  struggle  for  freedom,  carried  as 
proudly  as  when,  something  more  than  an  accessory 
to  a  gay  pageant,  they  marched  away  with  unfiincli- 


22  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

ing  bravery,  carrying  our  hopes  and  prayers  with 
them.  They  took  their  place  in  the  procession, 
which  formed  at  half-past  ten,  in  the  following  order : 

1 .  Cavalcade. 

2.  Returned  Veteran  Corps. 

3.  Fire  Companies. 

4.  Town  Authorities. 

5.  Teachers  of  Normal  and  Public  Schools. 

6.  Committee  of  Arrangements. 

7.  Reverend  Clergy. 

8.  President  and  Orator  of  the  Day.     . 
1).  Members  of  the  Press. 

10.  Invited  Guests. 

1 1.  Citizens  from  other  Towns. 

12.  Citizens  of  this  Town. 

EXERCISES  AT  THE  FIRST  CHURCH. 

After  marching  through  the  principal  streets,  they 
proceeded  to  the  church,  which  fair  hands  had  deco- 
rated most  beautifully,  the  altar  looking  like  a  great 
tropical  flower  just  bursting  into  bloom;  from  the 
marble  font  rose  a  gorgeous  pyramid  of  blossoms ; 
festoons  of  evergreens  draped  altar  and  organ,  hung 
about  the  Rev.  Edward  Taylor's  memorial  tablet, 
and  framed  in  the  portrait  of  our  lamented  Dr. 
Davis ;  the  seasons  were  typified  by  bunches  of  corn 
and  grain  hanging  on  either  side  of  the  organ  arch. 

After  a  spirited  voluntary  upon  the  organ  by  Mr. 
Bartlett,  and  a  voluntary  sung  by  a  choir  of  nearly 
.  fifty  voices,  the  honorable  and  venerable  James  Fow- 
ler gave  a  brief  address  as  President  of  the  Day  ;  re- 
citing various  interesting  reminiscences  reaching  back 
to  the  year  1800,  illustrating  and  contrasting  our  fee- 
ble beginning  and  our  present  success.  Among  other 
statistics,  he  gave  the  following.  In  the  year  1853, 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  23 

the  transportation  business  to  and  from  the  railroad 
was  performed  by  one  man  and  a  single  horse  and 
wagon,  and  now  between  twenty  and  thirty  horses 
are  required  for  the  like  business  of  the  road. 
The  first  coal  yard  established  in  Westfield  was  by 
Mr.  Gowdy,  in  1857  ;  at  that  time  so  small  was  the 
consumption  of  coal,  that  in  consultation  with  some 
of  the  leading  men,  it  was  doubted  if  he  could  make 
the  business  remunerative  ;  now  the  consumption  of 
coal  is  four  thousand  tons  annually. 

Rev.  H.  Hopkins  followed  with  a  few  appropriate 
words  of  earnest  prayer,  the  congregation  joining  in 
repeating  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Owing  to  the  illness  of 
Mr.  Mansfield,  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  devolved 
upon  Rev.  Perkins  K.-  Clark  of  Mitteneague,  who  is 
'a  native  of  Westfield.  The  following  original  hymn 
was  then  sung  by  the  congregation  : 

"  Two  centuries  shrivel  like  a  scroll," 

Touch'd  by  consuming  fires  ; 
And  heart  to  heart,  and  soul  to  soul, 
Sons  meet  their  buried  sires. 

To-day  the  reverent  pilgrim  hears 

Their  sweetly  chanted  airs  ; 
And,  echoing  through  the  vanished  years, 

Come  back  their  holy  prayers. 

The  Triune  God,  their  only  King; 

Their  law,  His  stern  decree; 
Nor  angel  on  his  swiftest  wing 

Could  more  obedient  be. 

Grateful,  on  Pisgah's  mount  we  stand, 

Proud  of  this  natal  day; 
Behind,  that  grand  triumphant  band; 

Beyond,  a  sun-lit  way. 

And,  that  an  age  may  brighter  shine, 

And  truth  our  worship  hold, 
Grant  us;  oh  God,  that  faith  divine, 

Which  made  our  fathers  bold. 


24  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

So  the  on-gnth'ring  age  may  come, 

At  the  next  century's  nod, 
And,  in  this  loved,  enchanted  home, 

Adore  our  fathers'  God. 

This  hymn  was  the  effusion  of  Mrs.  Ellen  Barr,  a 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Patrick  Boise,  late  a  distin- 
guished lawyer  of  this  town. 

The  next  feature,  in  the  order  of  exercises,  was 
the  address  of  welcome,  by  Hon.  Edward  B.  Gillett. 
It  was  full  of  tender  allusion,  beautiful  imagery  and 
cordial  greeting.  We  give  the  words  substantially, 
but  they  afford  a  faint  idea  of  that  indescribable 
something  (which  is  more  effective  than  any  mere 
trick  of  words,  and  which  is  indeed  the  heart  beating 
through  the  words,)  which  characterized  this  speech. 

MR.  GILLETT' S  ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — Wherever  out  in  the 
broad  world  the  diverging  paths  of  life  may  lead  a  man,  or  to  whatever 
returnless  distances  its  uncertain  currents  may  bear  him,  or  however 
long  the  years  that  intervene,  if  he  has  a  heart  in  his  bosom,  there  is 
always  one  dear  and  delightful  image  pictured  upon  it,  shining  bright 
and  unfaded  whenever  the  dusts'  of  time  are  removed  by  the  gentle 
hand  of  memory,  or  washed  away  by  her  tears ;  and  that  image  is  the 
picture  of  the  home  of  his  childhood.  There,  every  spot  is  consecra- 
ted by  some  fond  memory,  by  some  youthful  pastime,  some  first  love, 
or  some  enduring  friendship,  or  tender  sorrow,  or  religious  aspiration  or 
reverential  feeling ;  each  bringing  its  tribute  to  reconstruct  his  early 
home ;  and  to  which,  in  all  the  sere  and  later  years  of  life,  the  true 
heart  never  ceases  to  turn, 

As  the  sun-flower  turns  on  her  god  when  he  sets 
The  same  look  which  she  turned  when  he  rose. 

The  citizens  of  Westfield  now  resident  here,  some  of  them  natives 
and  "to  the  manor  born,"  others  persuaded  to  cast  their  lot  here  by 
the  invitations  of  business,  or  the  attractions  of  a  pleasant  home,  or 
drawn  hither  and  held  by  gentler  bonds,  thoughtful  of  these  sentiments, 
and  mindful  that  this  year  of  our  Lord  is  the  two  hundredth  birthday  of 
our  goodly  town, — mindful,  too,  how  this  vine  which  our  fathers  planted 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  25 

has  "sent  forth  its  branches  unto  the  river,  and  its  boughs  to  the  sea," 
— believed  that  they  should  be  recreant  to  every  filial  and  fraternal  senti- 
ment if  they  did  not  on  this  natal  day,  call  the  wandering  sons  and 
daughters  back  again  to  the  old  homestead,  that  they  and  we  might 
rescue  one  day  from  the  homely  tenor  of  common  existence,  and  to- 
gether around  the  ancient  hearth-stone  fan  the  fading  embers  of  old 
and  pleasant  memories,  retrace  the  paths  of  earlier  years,  tell  of  all  the 
pleasant  ways  in  which  our  Father  has  led  us,  and  together  beneath 
His  smile  set  up  three  tabernacles, — to  the  Past,  the  Present,  and  the 
Future. 

In  pursuance  of  these  considerations,  our  citizens  in  town-meeting 
assembled, — that  same  democratic  assemblage  in  which  two  hundred 
years  ago  the  legal  voters  of  the  town,  representing  a  half  score  of 
families,  settled  grave  questions  of  policy  and  existence,-r-voted  to  set 
apart  this  day  as  a  memorial  occasion,  and  to  issue  friendly  summons 
to  all  the  absent  children  to  be  present  and  join  with  us  in  our  festive 
joys  and  memorable  honors.  And  now  we  are  glad  to  greet  so  mauy. 
Most  gladly  would  we  have  gre'eted  more,  but  were  the  number  far 
less,  the  occasion  would  not  be  without  ample  compensations.  Scores 
of  letters  of  response  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  from  the  At- 
lantic shore  to  the  Pacific  sea,  expressing  the  grief  of  those  who 
could  not  be  with  us  to-day,  breathe  such  tender  and  hearty  sym- 
pathy with  the  occasion,  such  pride  that  it  is  to  be  worthily 
signalized,  such  pleasure  in  not  having  been  forgotten,  and  assur- 
ances of  love,  quickened  and  renewed,  pledges  of  future  solicitude 
in  all  that  pertains  to  the  interest  of  their  old  home,  and  regrets 
that  they  could  not  unite  with  us  in  laying  the  trophies  they  have  won 
elsewhere,  at  the  feet  of  their  honored  mother ;  and  all  so  redolent 
of  filial  affection,  that  I  am  sure  they  will  be  sedulously  preserved 
among  the  treasures  of  the  town,  even  as  an  "alabaster  box  full  of 
precious  odors."  To  our  absent  friends,  remembered  and  beloved,  who 
are  not  "  with  us"  but  are  yet  "  of  us,"  we  send  cordial  greeting. 

To  our  honored  guests, — FATHERS  AND  MOTHERS,  AND  BROTHERS 
AND  SISTERS:  in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  my  fellow-citizens,  I  of- 
fer you  heartiest  salutation ;  and  welcome  you  to  our  home  and 
yours.  Even  as  though  my  hand  thrilling  with  the  warm  pulses  of  all, 
was  within  your  hand,  I  give  you  homefelt  and  heartfelt  greeting. 
We  are  right  glad  to  see  you — glad  to  see  so  many  familiar  faces,  as 
well  as  so  many  faces,  familiar  only  as  they  repeat  and  perpetuate  the 
features  of  kindred.  We  welcome  you  to  all  that  is  comprised  in  that 
best  word  of  our  language,  home. 
4 


26  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

As  you  cast  filial  eyes  over  the  old  landscape,  you  will  perceive  that 
many  places  you  once  knew,  you  will  know  no  more.  But  many  things 
the  hand  of  man  can  never  change.  Mount  Tekoa  still  stands  sentinel 
over  our  quiet  valley.  Our  town  is  still  "beautiful  for  situation." 
The  same  environment  of  blue  hills  defines  our  horizon-line  of  unsur- 
passed beauty.  Our  valley  still  nestles  in  the  valley  scooped  out  for  it 
by  the  hand  of  nature  below  the  sheltering  hills,  and  enfolded  by  the 
shining  arms  of  two  rivers  as  they  bend  for  mutual  embrace.  We  wel- 
come you  to  our  town,  improving,  as  we  believe,  in  thrift,  wealth,  en- 
terprise, and  in  moral  and  intellectual  culture.  We  point  to  our  schools, 
doing  honor  even  to  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts;  to  our 
school-houses,  those  light-houses  of  interior  New  England,  blazing  witli 
more  than  Promethian  fire ;  to  our  Athenaeum,  over  whose  portals  is 
inscribed  the  name  of  one  munificent  donor,  and  upon  whose  interior 
walls  is  suspended  the  portrait  of  another  loyal  son  of  Westfield,  and  a 
generous  benefactor ;  to  our  churches,  which  lift  their  graceful  spires,  as 
if  to  point  the  soul  to  heaven  and  draw  blessings  down  ;  to  our  pulpits, 
echoing  with  the  earnest  and  concordant  voices  of  a  ministry,  in  whose 
presence  we  exclaim  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,,as  you  and  we  did  in 
the  days  of  their  predecessors  revered  and  beloved :  "  How  beautiful 
upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that 
publisheth  salvation." 

We  point  to  our  farms  and  fields,  to  our  places  of  mercantile,  me- 
chanical and  manufacturing  avocations,  all  demonstrating  that  whole- 
some and  uniform  prosperity  which  has  never  been  retrograde,  or  station- 
ary. I  know  that  the  old  Hampshire  and  Hampden  Canal,  which  forty 
years  ago  you  dreamed  would  prove  to  be  the  enchanter's  wand  by  which 
to  transfigure  our  town  into  a  city,  is  among  the  "things  that  were," 
and  its  dead  body  lies  among  us,  "  extending  full  many  a  rood."  But 
the  genius  of  modern  enterprise  has  sounded  a  resurrection  trumpet 
over  its  grave,  and  to-day  the  "iron  steed"  tramples  hourly  over  the 
very  lid  of  its  coffin  ;  while  above  its  track,  invisible  couriers  on  wings 
of  lightning  bring  us  within  "  electric  touch  "  of  our  friends  all  over 
the  world.  To-day  our  railroads  and  telegraphs  "  box  the  four  points  of 
the  compass." 

Before  leaving  our  homes  you  may  look  npon  scenes  awakening  sad 
memories.  In  our  church-yard  and  cemetery  you  will  read  the  record 
of  the  "  loved  and  lost,"  but  you  will  also  look  upon  the  graves  of  pat- 
riots and  heroes  who  gave  their  lives  to  their  country  in  our  great  war, 
and  bequeathed  their  memories  to  us ;  and  over  whose  sacred  dust,  as 
the  seasons  return,  we  will  scatter  the  flowers  of  gratitude  and  love. 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  27 

We  point  also  with  pride  to  almost  two  hundred  living  soldiers,  who 
attested  their  willingness,  if  the  country  had  demanded  the  sacrifice, 
to  lay  their  bodies  by  the  side  of  their  slain  comrades  jn  glory.  But 
I  will  no  longer  indulge  in  these  complacent  utterances,  although  par- 
donable in  our  family  gathering,  but  will  hasten  again  and  again,  to 
offer  welcome  to  each  and  every  one.  Ye  fathers,  with  hair  bathed 
in  molten  silver — ye  mothers,  with  names  dearer  and  holier  than  any 
earthly  name — young  men  with  vigor  crowned,  and  maidens  "  fairer 
than  the  light," — one  and  all,  welcome,  a  thousand  times,  WELCOME  ! 

J.  B.  Eldredge,  Esq.,  responded  felicitously  as  fol- 
lows : 

MR.  ELDREDGE'S  RESPONSE. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Citizens  of  Westfield: — I  need  hardly  say  how 
much  I  regret  that  the  duty  of  responding  to  the  warm-hearted  and 
eloquent  welcome  of  my  friend,  who  represents  on  this  occasion  the 
good  people  of  Westfield,  has  not  devolved  upon  one  who  could  better 
command  language  fitting  the  occasion — upon  one  who  had  better 
learned  the  art  of  expressing  in  words  the  sentiments  and  emotions 
that  the  heart  feels. 

It  is  always  pleasant  to  receive  a  welcome  from  friends  and  neigh- 
bors— to  receive  the  smile  and  commendation  of  a  mother,  even  though 
we  feel  that  we  have  been  wayward  and  disobedient,  and  have  in  some 
sense  discarded  her  "  watch  and  care."  Hence  those  of  us  who  have 
wandered  away  from  our  early  home,  in  whose  behalf  I  speak,  are 
especially  gratified  at  the  more  than  generous — the  affectionate  wel- 
come which  your  representative  has  given  us — a  welcome  in  keeping  with 
the  far-famed  social  and  hospitable  character  of  the  people  of  Westfield. 

It  is  one  of  the  fortunate  and  happy  eras  of  my  life  that  I  am  per- 
mitted to  be  present  on  this  occasion.  I  rejoice  in  what  my  eyes  have 
seen  and  my  ears  have  heard  this  day,  reviving  and  reproducing  as  it 
does,  the  memories  and  scenes  of  my  school-boy  days  which  were  mostly 
spent  in  this  honored  old  town.  I  have  never  ceased  to  feel  my  pulse 
quickened  at  the  mention  of  the  name  of  Westfield,  or  to  rejoice  in  the 
fact  that  I  could  be  called  one  of  her  children. 

But  in  addition  to  the  fact  that  Westfield  is  endeared  to  me  by  many 
of  the  tenderest  associations  of  my  early  life,  I  love  and  cherish  her 
memory  for  many  reasons  personal  to  myself — for  the  geniality  and  so- 
cial worth  of  her  people  for  at  least  two  generations  which  I  have  per- 
sonally known — for  the  deservedly  high  character  and  benign  influence 
of  her  schools  and  churches — and  more  especially  for  the.  fact  that  I 


28  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

have  here  found  the  ever-cherished  partners  of  my  life-journey,  the 
descendants,  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  of  the  best  blood  of  New  Eng- 
land— their  ancestors  on  the  mother's  side,  being  the  Rev.  Edward 
Taylor,  the  first  settled  minister  of  the  town,  a  tablet  to  whose  mem- 
ory is  placed  in  yonder  wall,  and  on  the  father's  side,  such  men  as  the 
Rev.  Richard  Increase  and  Cotton  Mather — names  everywhere  hon- 
ored in  New  England.  And  in  addition  to  this,  I  feel  that  it  is  not 
improper  for  me  to  say  that  I  am  peculiarly  drawn  toward  this  beauti- 
ful village,  of  which  her  citizens  may  justly  be  proud,  by  the  fact  that 
he  with  whom  I  was  so  many  years  associated  in  brotherly  friendship 
and  love,  and  whose  social  worth  and  personal  integrity  was  an  honor 
to  the  place  that  gave  him  birth,  did  here  take  so  prominent  a  part  and 
lend  so  willing  a  hand  in  founding  an  institution  designed  in  the  gen- 
erations to  come  to  mould  the  public  mind,  and  in  favor  of  a  more  gen- 
eral moral  and  intellectual  culture,  and  to  aid  in  planting  deeper  the 
seeds  of  truth  and  public  virtue. 

All  these  considerations  and  many  others  that  I  will  mention,  have 
moved  me  to  be  present  on  this  occasion,  and  to  participate  in  the  min- 
gled joy  and  sorrow  of  this  present  scene.  For  I  need  not  tell  you 
that  this  day  and  these  scenes  have  their  shady  as  well  as  their  sunny 
side.  As  I  walk  about  the  streets  of  this  lovely  village,  and  call  to 
mind  the  names  and  scenes  of  other  days,  I  am  most  solemnly  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  the  friends  and  acquaintances  of  my  youth 
are  nearly  all  gone.  I  look  in  vain  for  a  solitary  one  left  of  many  of 
the  prominent  families  of  the  town  when  I  was  a  boy.  I  look  in  vain 
for  the  descendants  or  representatives  of  the  Farnum  family,  the  King 
family,  the  Sheldon  family,  the  Hamilton  family,  the  Mather  family, 
the  Morgan  family  and  many  others.  But  so  it  has  always  been  with 
the  generations  of  men.  They  flourish  for  a  season,  and  then  pass 
away  to  be  no  more  seen  on  the  earth !  The  lesson  that  we  should 
learn  from  this  impressive  fact — which  comes  to  us  with  especial  force 
on  such  an  occasion  as  this — is  that  the  great  purpose  of  life  is  to  be 
faithful  to  all  its  duties,  and  that  the  daily  obligation  that  rests  upon  us, 
ia  to — 

"  So  live,  that  when  the  summons  comes  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan,  that  moves 
To  that  mysterious  realm,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go,  not  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night, 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but  sustained  and  soothed 
By  an  unfaltering  trust  in  Him  who  came 
To  guide  thee  to  immortal  joys  above." 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  29 

Following  the  response  of  Mr.  Eldredge,  was  read, 
by  Mr.  L.  F.  Thayer,  the  stanzas  here  inserted,  writ- 
ten for  the  occasion,  by  Miss  Fanny  Buhler  Bates,  one 
of  the  daughters  of  the  orator  of  the  day . 

We  come,  we  come,  this  festal  day,  to  join  the  joyful  throng, 
Who  meet  to  pass  the  golden  hours  in  mirth  and  happy  song; 
Away  with  care !  let  every  heart  with  quickened  fervor  glow  ! 
We  tread  the  paths  our  fathers  trod,  two  hundred  years  ago  ! 

Still  rush  the  restless  rivers  down  to  meadows  fresh  and  fair, 

And  sing  their  songs  through  grove  and  field,  and  love  to  linger  there ; 

Till,  met  at  last,  in  gentler  mood  the  mingled  currents  flow; 

But  where  are  they,  who  watched  their  tide,  two  hundred  yearsago  ? 

Still  rise  the  mountains  in  their  mfight,  from  plains  that  wave  around; 
And  proud  Tekoa  lifts  her  head,  with  loftier  honors  crowned ; 
Still  guardian  hills  encircle  round  the  vale,  that  sleeps  below; 
But  they  are  gone,  who  climbed  their  heights,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

We  come  to  press,  with  reverent  feet,  this  memory-hallowed  ground, 
Where  sleep  the  great,  heroic  dead,  'ueath  many  a  grassy  mound; 
To  brush  the  dust  from  bygone  years,  and  bid  the  record  show 
The  honored  deeds  of  those,  who  lived  two  hundred  years  ago. 

We  come  to  gather  up  the  links  of  friendship's  severed  chain; 
To  wander  back  o'er  life's  long  path,  and  find  our  youth  again; 
To  grasp  the  hands  of  early  friends,  whose  life-long  faith  we  know, 
And  talk  of  all  our  fathers  did,  two  hundred  years  ago  ! 

We  come  to  rest,  a  few,  brief  days,  within  our  childhood's  home; 

To  garner  up  a  precious  store,  for  weary  years  to  come ; 

Along  the  old,  familiar  streets,  to  wander  to  and  fro, 

And  think,  our  fathers  walked  these  ways,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

And  they  are  met  with  us  to-day,  although  we  heed  them  not! 
Unseen  by  any  mortal  eye,  they  hover  round  this  spot ! 
No  sound  of  gathering  hosts  is  heard;  but  yet,  we  feel,  we  know, 
Our  fathers  meet,  where  first  they  met,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

To  Him  who  guides  our  wandering  feet,  to  walk  these  pleasant  ways, 
And  brings  us  to  our  home  again,  we  lift  a  song  of  praise; 
We  bless  Him  for  these  fruitful  fields; — that  peace  and  plenty  flow, 
Where  spread  a  trackless  wilderness,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 


30  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

We  praise  Him  for  our  honored  dead,  who  fought  the  fight  so  well; 
Who  reared,  through  toil  and  anxious  care,  the  homes  where  now  we 

dwell; 

We  bless  Him,  that  He  nerved  their  arm,  to  vanquish  every  foe, 
And  smiled  upou  this  lovely  land,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

The  moments  speed!  relentless  time  his  course  will  not  delay; 
We,  too,  shall  fade  and  pass  away,  as  dies  this  autumn  day; 
But  children  of  the  unborn  years,  with  conscious  pride  will  glow, 
To  tell  of  all  their  fathers  did,  two  hundred  years  ago ! 

And  as  the  pages  of  the  past,  are  bright  with  deeds  of  fame, — 
As  glory  crowns  the  honored  dead,  and  shouts  their  loud  acclaim, — 
So  may  unfolding  days  and  years  recurring  tokens  show, 
Our  fathers  builded  not  in  vain,  two  hundred  years  ago  ! 

The  next  performance  i$  the  order,  was  the  singing 
of  responsive  hymns,  entitled  "  Two  Hundred  Years 
Ago,"  and  "  Two  Hundred  Years  to  Come."  It  was 
a  beautiful  and  effective  performance.  The  hymns 
themselves  were  appropriate,  and,  of  course,  effective 
by  their  appositeness ;  but  the  interest  in  them  was 
increased  by  the  manner  of  their  rendering,  and  by 
the  harmonious  tones  of  each  of  the  responding  choirs. 

It  should  be  known  that,  in  the  rear  of  the  pulpit, 
is  the  place  for  the  church  choir,  which  is  in  front  of 
the  organ,  filling  the  arch  in  the  rear  of  the  church, 
the  front  of  the  organ  being  thirty  feet..  In  this 
choir,  were  placed  a  part  of  the  singers,  who  had 
been  effectively  trained  for  the  exercises ;  and  in  the 
front  gallery  of  the  auditorium,  was  the  residue  of 
the  singers.  We  remark,  in  passing,  that  the  sing- 
ers who  contributed  so  highly  to  the  interesting  parts 
of  the  performances,  were  some  of  the  best  singers  of 
all  the  different  religious  societies  of  the  town,  and 
they  were  assisted  by  several  amateurs,  who  volun- 
teered their  voices  "in  the  service  of  song,"  upon 
this  memorable  occasion. 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  31 

The  several  stanzas  were  responded  to,  stanza  by 
stanza,  by  the  different  choirs ;  and  though  the 
church  was  crowded  to  its  fullest  extent,  we  have 
never  noticed  a  more  appreciative  stillness.  Every 
word  of  the  hymns  was  distinctly  enunciated,  so  that 
the  affecting  thought  was  impressed  upon  the  heart, 
deepened  still  further  into  the  soul  by  the  thrilling 
harmony. 

We  insert  the  hymns  below,  as  a  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  day.  Although  they  were  not,  as  were 
the  other  performances,  home  productions,  they  were 
so  incorporated  into  the  grand  scheme  of  the  cele- 
bration as  to  become  a  part  of  it ;  and  those  surely, 
who  heard  them  in  their  uttered  harmony,  will  ever 
wish  to  preserve  them  as  a  part  of  a  cherished  record. 

TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO. 

Where  are  the  birds  that  sweetly  sang 

Two  hundred  years  ago? 

The  flowers  that  all  in  beauty  sprang 

Two  hundred  years  ago  ? 

The  lip  that  smiled — the  eyes  that,  wild 

In  flashes  shone,  bright  eyes  upon, — 

O  where,  O  where  are  lips  and  eyes, 

The  maiden's  smile,  the  lover's  sighs 

That  were  so  long  ago, 

O  where,  O  where,  that  were  so  long  ago  ? 

Who  peopled  all  the  village  streets, 

Two  hundred  years  ago  ? 

Wrho  filled  the  church  with  faces  meek 

Two  hundred  years  ago  V 

The  sneering  tale  of  sisters  frail, 

The  plot  that  worked  another's  hurt, — 

O  where,  0  where  are  the  plots  and  sneers, 

The  poor  man's  hopes,  the  rich  man's  fears, 

That  were  so  long  ago, 

O  where,  O  where,  that  were  so  long  ago? 

Where  are  the  graves  where  dead  men  sleep 
Two  hundred  years  ago  ; 


32  WESTFIELD    UI-CEN^ENNIAL. 

Who,  whilst  they  lived  did  ofttimes  weep 

Two  hundred  years  ago? 

By  other  men,  they  knew  not  then, 

Their  lands  are  tilled,  their  homes  are  filled, 

Yet  nature,  then,  was  just  as  gay, 

And  bright  the  sun  shone  as  to-day, 

"Two  hundred  years  ago, 

Two  hundred  years  ago,  two  hundred  years  ago. 

TWO  HUNDRED  YEARS  TO  COME. 

Where,  where  will  be  the  birds  that  sing, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

The  flowers  that  now  in  beauty  spring, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

The  rosy  lip,  the  lofty  brow, 

The  heart  that  beats  so  gaily  now, — 

O  where  will  be  love's  beaming  eye, 

Joy's  pleasant  smile  and  sorrow's  sigh, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

Two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

Where,  where,  where,  two  hundred  years  to  come  V 

Who'll  throng  for  gold  this  crowded  street, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

Who'll  tread  this  church  with  willing  feet, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

Pale,  trembling  age,  and  fiery  youth, 

And  childhood  with  its  heart  of  truth ; 

The  rich,  the  poor,  on  land  and  sea, — 

\Vhere  will  the  mighty  millions  be, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come? 

Two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

Where,  where,  where,  two  hundred  years  to  come  ? 

We  all  within  our  graves  shall  sleep, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come. 

No  living  soul  for  us  will  weep, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come. 

But  other  men  our  lands  will  till, 

And  others,  these,  our  streets  will  fill, 

While  other  birds  will  sing  as  gay, — 

As  bright  the  sun  shine  as  to-day, — 

Two  hundred  years  to  come, 

Two  hundred  years  to  come, 

Here,  here,  here,  two  hundred  years  to  come. 


PRELIMINARY    PROCEEDINGS.  33 

The  oration  of  Mr.  Bates  succeeded  this  heart- 
stirring  performance.  He  announced,  early  in  the 
address,  in  explanation  of  a  want  of  continuity  in  it, 
that  parts  of  it,  in  the  different  portions,  would  be  omit- 
ted in  the  delivery.  The  omissions  are  supplied  in  the 
following  pages  of  it;  and  many  of  the  documents, 
bearing  upon  the  early  history  of  the  town,  the  names 
and  notices  of  some  of  the  early  settlers,  the  allotment 
of  lands  to  them,  and  extracts  from  the  records  relat- 
ing to  the  ecclesiastical  history,  and  the  proceedings  of 
the  inhabitants,  are  inserted  in  an  appendix. 


HISTORICAL  ADDRESS 


BY 


WILLIAM  G.  BATES. 


Historical  Address. 


Fellow -Citizens  of  Westfield: — In  the  name  of  the  in- 
habitants of  this  goodly  town,  I  bid  you  all  a  cordial 
welcome.  Whether  you  were  born  within  its  ancient 
boundaries,  and  still  remain  within  it,  blending  all  your 
associations  with  the  things,  which  pertain  to  its  peace, 
its  welfare  and  its  honor,  and  extending  and  interlacing 
your  affections  with  those,  who,  with  you,  compose  this 
incorporate  brotherhood,  in  the  great  family  of  the  Union, 
determined  here  to  stand  and  fight  the  great  battle  of  life, 
and  here  to  fall,  and  rest  from  your  well-done  labors;  or, 
whether,  having  forsaken  all  other  towns  or  cities,  states 
or  territories,  and  renounced  all  allegiance  unto  them,  you 
have  adopted  this,  as  your  earthly  home,  here  to  abide,  as 
one  of  its  children,  and  to  seek  its  peace  and  welfare,  as 
long  as  God  in  his  providence  shall  continue  you  here; 
or,  whether,  seduced  by  buoyant  hopes,  and  brilliant  im- 
aginings of  future  good,  you  went  out  from  this  home  of 
your  nativity,  and,  with  that  striking  peculiarity,  which 
has  become  a  distinctive  feature  of  the  Pilgrim  character, 
you  proceeded  to  form  new  settlements,  to  build  up  new 
towns,  new  cities,  and  new  states;  to  extend  the  domains 
of  civilization  into  unbroken  solitudes,  and  to  make  the 
waste  places  vocal  with  the  music  of  New  England  indus- 
try and  enterprise ;  or  whether,  being  the  descendants  of 
those  pioneers  in  the  march  of  improvement,  and  moving 
with  them,  and  beyond  them,  to  the  then  frontier  states, 
and  thence  forward,  over  the  plains,  the  rivers,  and  the 
mountains,  which  look  down  upon  the  golden  shores  of 


:>S  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

the  Pacific,  in  obedience  to  this  kindly,  but  peremptory 
call  of  your  old  mother,  you  have  come  back  to  this  her 
gladsome  anniversary ;  or,  whether,  born  in  distant  lands, 
and  under  foreign  jurisdictions,  and  renouncing  all  alle- 
giance to  every  foreign  prince  and  potentate,  you  have 
fled  from  the  impositions,  the  oppressions,  and  the  turbu- 
lence of  the  old  world,  to  enjoy  here,  the  equal  laws,  the 
equal  powers,  and  the  domestic  peace  and  quiet  of  our 
own  country, — to  each  one,  and  to  all  of  you,  we  extend 
the  endearing  address  of  "fellow-citizens,"  and  bid  you, 
in  the  wx>rds  of  the  kindly  Samoset,  the  Indian  sachem, 
welcome,  welcome  to  Westfield ! 

And,  truly,  upon  what  more  interesting  occasion,  could 
this  vast  audience  assemble,  than  upon  this  anniversary ! 
It  is  but  little  more  than  two  hundred  years,  since  the  first 
white  man  ever  set  his  foot  upon  this  rich  alluvium.  It 
is  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of 
this  town!  It  is  its  two  hundredth  birthday!  There 
may  be  future  similar  anniversaries,  as  century  after  cen- 
tury shall  roll  on  their  cycles ;  but  there  can  be  none  for 
us,  or  for  our  children.  When  the  sun  of  this  day  shall 
have  gone  down,  the  occasion  will  be  forever  gone,  and 
more  than  three  generations  of  men  must  pass  away,  before 
those,  who  are  to  come  after  us,  and  dwell  in  this  "pleas- 
ant and  well  watered  valley,"  and  on  these  encircling  hills, 
can  again  convene,  upon  a  centennial  day,  to  commemo- 
rate the  heroic  devotion  of  those,  who  here,  in  a  savage 
wilderness,  made  glad  "this  city  of  our  God."  How  pecu- 
liarly fitting  then  it  is, — nay,  how  strongly  do  duty,  grati- 
tude, filial  affection,  and  the  throbbing  of  patriotic  fervor 
go  hand  in  hand  with  social  pleasure, — that  all  who  live 
here,  all  who  have  lived  here,  and  all  who  trace  their  life- 
blood  to  those  who  formed,  or  who  maintained  and  de- 
fended, this  frontier  settlement, — this  most  distant  military 
outpost,  on  the  advancing  line  of  Christian  civilization, — 
should  step  off,  for  a  few  days,  from  the  wearisome  tread- 
mill of  life,  should  pause  awhile,  from  the  engrossing 
whirl  of  the  passing  world,  should  come  together  from 


ME.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  39 

the  distant  points,  where  our  homes  have  been  cast,  in 
this  vast  country,  should  mingle,  with  one  heart,  like 
brothers,  around  the  hearth-stone  of  our  honored  parent, 
and  awaken  new  recollections  of  the  times,  which,  in  a 
peculiar  manner,  "tried  men's  souls."  How  fitting  and 
proper  it  is,  that  this  anniversary  should  be  celebrated; 
that  age  and  wisdom  should  honor  it;  that  youth  should 
be  imbued  with  the  feeling  of  homage,  which  is  justly 
due  to  self-sacrificing  virtue;  that  music  should  swell  the 
chorus  of  gratitude,  and  that  the  solemn  prayer  should  as- 
cend to  the  great  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  in  the  spirit  of 
those  words,  which  have  become  the  honored  motto  of 
our  commonwealth,  that  He,  who  brought  the  fathers  of 
this  nation  hither,  will  sustain  and  protect  those  institu- 
tions, which,  by  them,  were  planted  in  His  name,  and  for 
His  glory. 

Let  us,  then,  go  back  to  that  eventful  morning,  than 
which  none  has  ever  ushered  in  a  more  eventful  day  in 
the  world's  history, — the  22d  day  of  December,  in  the 
year  1620. 

I  do  not  propose  to  rehearse  the  labors,  the  trials,  and 
the  sufferings  of  the  Pilgrims.  Their  characters  have 
been  painted  by  three  almost  more  than  mortal  pencils. 
Choate,  Everett  and  Webster  have  portrayed  the  heroism 
of  their  lives,  with  a  luminousness,  which  would  shine  out, 
with  distinctive  brightness,  in  the  most  gorgeous  halo  of 
the  world's  eloquence.  Their  daily  history,  also,  has  re- 
cently been  delineated,  with  an  industry,  an  impartiality, 
and  an  ability,  which  will  hand  down  the  name  of  Palfrey 
to  succeeding  generations,  as  the  historian  of  New  Eng- 
land. But  there  are  those  remarkable  features  of  the  Pil- 
grim life,  those  distinctive  peculiarities,  apparently  born 
in  them,  but,  probably,  called  forth  by  the  strength  of 
their  convictions  of  what  was  necessary  to  be  done,  in  the 
nation-forming  effort,  which  they  had  consecrated  them- 
selves to  make,  which  became  a  part  of  their  very  being ; 
and,  descending  to  their  successors,  have  become  one  of 
the  constituent  parts  of  the  New  England  character. 


40  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

There  are,  besides,  in  the  record  of  their  lives,  examples 
of  bravery,  fortitude,  courage,  devotion,  faith  and  hope, 
all  sustained  and  kept  alive  by  a  determined  holy  pur- 
pose, which  has  given,  to  their  times,  the  title  of  "the 
heroic  age  of  the  republic:"  and  it  is  proper  to  refer  to 
them,  in  connection  with  the  history  of  those,  whom  we 
have  met  to  honor,  as  showing,  that  the  founders  of  this 
town  have  done  no  dishonor  to  the  heroes  of  Plymouth. 

The  long  and  distressful  wintry  voyage  of  over  three 
months,  was  approaching  its  end.  The  May-Flower,  a 
barque  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  tons,  hardly  of  suffi- 
cient size  for  a  coaster  upon  the  shores  of  a  summer  sea, 
with  its  precious  freight  of  one  hundred  and  two  souls, 
at  last  dropped  her  anchor  in  the  roadstead  of  Province- 
town,  within  the  unprotected  harbor  of  Cape  Cod. 
Driven  from  their  destination  by  the  storms  which  had 
burst  upon  them,  or  led  astray  by  the  bad  faith  of  the 
captain  of  their  vessel,  they  proceeded  to  explore  the 
unknown  coast.  Never,  since  Eneas  sought  for  the  site 
of  a  new  empire  in  Italy,  did  greater  consequences  de- 
pend, than  those,  that  hung  upon  their  decision.  But, 
it  is  to  be  observed,  as  illustrating  the  fixedness  of  their 
purpose,  and  the  great  and  statesman-like  views  which 
pervaded  their  action,  that,  before  they  made  the  harbor, 
or  dropped  their  anchor,  they  subscribed  a  written  organ- 
ization for  the  governance  of  the  colony.  It  commences 
with  the  solemn  phrase,  which  is  usually  the  beginning 
of  a  last  will  and  testament  —  "In  the  name  of  God, 
amen  ! "  Reciting,  that  having  undertaken,  for  the  glory 
of  God,  the  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  the 
honor  of  their  king  and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the 
first  colony  in  the  northern  part  of  Virginia,  they  sol- 
emnly and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  one 
another,  covenant  and  combine  themselves  together  into 
a  civil  body  politic,  for  the  better  ordering  and  preserva- 
tion and  furtherance  of  the  ends  proposed ;  and  by  vir- 
tue thereof,  to  enact,  constitute  and  frame  such  just  and 
equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions  and  offices,  as 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  41 

shall  be  thought  most  meet  and  convenient  for  the  col- 
ony ;  unto  which  they  each  subscribed  their  names,  and 
promised  to  it  all  due  submission  and  obedience.  This 
important  compact  was  dated  on  the  eleventh  of  JS~ovem- 
.ber,  1620  ;  and,  after  its  execution,  the  anchor  was  cast, 
and  preparation  was  made  for  the  next  day's  holy  rest. 

With  the  Monday  of  the  next  week,  the  explorations 
began.  They  were  informed,  that  Agawani,  now  Ipswich, 
had  a  good  harbor  and  fertile  lauds ;  but,  as  it  was  so  dis- 
tant, they  concluded  to  fix  at  Plymouth,  their  infant  col- 
ony. The  May-Flower,  accordingly,  cast  its  anchor  in 
the  bay ;  the  Pilgrims  were  conveyed  to  the  shoal-water 
in  the  pinnace;  and,  from  thence,  the  women  and  chil-  * 
dren  were  borne  upon  the  shoulders  of  men  to  the  icy 
shore,  with  no  shelter  to  cover  them  but  the  leafless 
branches,  which  waved  above  them  in  the  stormy  winds 
of  heaven. 

The  next  day  was  their  first  Sabbath,  on  the  shore  of 
New  England;  and,  with  a  more  than  Jewish  strictness, 
they  observed  the  command, — "in  it,  thou  shalt  not  do 
an}*  work; "  but,  on  the  following  day,  they  set  out  to  erect 
a  rude  platform  for  their  cannon,  a  storehouse  of  twenty  feet 
square,  for  their  provisions,  and  several  rude  huts  of  logs, 
embanked  with  snow,  for  their  habitations.  Scarcely,  how- 
ever, had  they  begun  to  secure  themselves  a  covering, 
when  disease  followed  close  upon  the  steps  of  famine,  ex- 
posure, and  suffering.  At  one  time,  only  seven  of  their 
number  were  able  to  attend  the  sick;  and,  of  the  forty- 
eight  adult  males,  comprising  the  colony,  twenty-eight  of 
them  were  carried  out  to  the  hill,  and  buried,  their  graves 
being  carefully  leveled,  that  the  savages  might  not  ascer- 
tain the  diminution  of  the  colony.  But,  says  the  historian, 
their  "courage  and  fidelity  never  gave  out.  The  well  car- 
ried out  the  dead,  through  the  cold  and  snow,  and  then 
hastened  back  from  the  burial,  to  wait  upon  the  sick;  and, 
as  the  sick  began  to  recover,  they  took  the  places  of  those, 
whose  strength  in  the  meantime,  had  been  exhausted. 
There  was  no  time,  and  there  was  no  inclination,  to  des- 
t) 


42  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

pond.  The  lesson  rehearsed  at  Leyden,  was  not  forgot- 
ten, 'that  all  great  and  honorable  actions  are  accompa- 
nied with  great  difficulties,  and  must  be  both  enterprised 
and  overcome  with  answerable  courages." 

At  last  came  on,  what,  even  to  such  men  as  they  were, 
must  have  been  a  day  of  the  sternest  trial.  They,  on 
their  election  day,  had  re-elected  their  governor,  John 
Carver,  and  enacted  such  laws  and  ordinances,  as  they 
"thought  behooveful  for  their  present  estate  and  condi- 
tion." They  had  become, — on  the  shores  of  New  Eng- 
land, hemmed  in  by  a  wilderness  populated  by  savages,  on 
the  one  side,  and  by  a  boundless  ocean  on  the  other, — a  reg- 
ularly-organized commonwealth,  under  a  written  consti- 
tution, and  with  all  the  requisite  forms  and  appliances  of 
a  free  government.  The  only  tie,  the  only  link  which 
connected  them  with  the  old  world, — with  the  home  from 
which  they  had  departed, — was  the  small  barque,  riding 
at  anchor  in  the  harbor;  and  she  was  about  to  unfurl  her 
sails,  to  the  return-passage,  and  to  leave  them  alone,  on 
that  desolate  shore,  forever.  At  this  distant  period,  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  life,  and, 
in  the  midst  of  that  tranquillity,  repose  and  security,  which 
alone  can  render  life  enjoyable,  we  can  poorly  estimate 
the  intense  strain,  which  was  then  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  resolution  of  those  devoted  men,  at  this  crisis  of  the 
national  life.  We  can,  however,  imagine  some  of  the  in- 
fluences, by  which  their  fortitude  was  tested,  as  the  great 
thought, — whether  they  were  "to  be,  or  not  to  be," — be- 
came the  all-important  question  of  their  lives. 

The  terrible  fact  stood  out  before  them,  in  all  its  as- 
tounding significance  of  peril,  that  nearly  one-half  of  their 
colony,  including  more  than  one-half  of  the  strong  men, 
by  whose  arms  they  were  to  be  defended  and  maintained, 
already  slept  in  their  undistinguished  graves.  But  they 
knew,  that  they  had  died  in  a  good  cause,  to  which  the 
dead  and  the  living  had  alike  been  consecrated. 

The  picture  of  present  and  coming  want  was  before 
them,  in  the  scarcity  of  provision,  and  in  the  absence  of 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  43 

those  needed  delicacies  for  the  sick  and  the  invalid, 
which  they  had  consumed  during  the  distemper,  which 
had  brought  so  many  of  them  to  the  grave.  They  feared, 
also,  for  the  recovery  of  others  of  their  number,  especially 
of  their  estimable  governor,  who  was  suffering  from  the 
fatigue,  the  anxiety,  the  watchiugs  and  the  famine,  which 
he  had  undergone, — and,  from  the  effects  of  which,  he  soon 
after  died ;  and  they  felt,  that  when  their  barque  should 
hoist  its  anchor,  and  "its  snow-white  sail"  should  fade 
away  from  their  lingering  vision,  the  last  link  would  be 
dissevered,  which  connected  them  with  the  humanity  of 
the  world. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  knew  the  purposes  for 
which  they  came,  and  they  estimated, — they  could  not 
estimate  too  highly, — the  consequences  which  hung  upon 
their  decision.  Those  great  and  good  men,  William 
Brewster,  their  elder,  and  Miles  Standish,  their  valiant 
commander, — men,  who,  during  the  whole  course  of  their 
distemper,  had  been  "  the  hewers  of  wood  and  the  draw- 
ers of  water,"  and  who,  by  night  and  by  day,  had  per- 
formed the  menial  offices,  which  attend  the  couch  of  sick- 
ness, willingly  and  cheerfully, — were  still  with  them,  each 
of  them  endued  with  a  resolution,  an  energy  and  a 
strength,  equal  to  their  day.  There  came  also  to  their 
recollections,  the  solemn  compact,  which  they  had  signed 
in  the  harbor  of  Cape  Cod,  binding  themselves  to  each 
other,  to  establish  and  perpetuate  a  civil  government,  of 
equal  laws,  where  they,  and  their  successors  might  enjoy 
that  inestimable  right, — the  vindication  of  which  had  called 
down  upon  them  the  persecutions  of  their  government,— 
"  freedom  to  worship  God !  "  and,  although  one-half  of 
the  number,  who  put  their  hands  to  this  first  free  charter 
of  liberty,  were,  in  this  brief  period,  entombed  in  the  soil 
of  their  new  home,  yet  that  land,  but  now  consecrated  to 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  became  thereby  the  more  en- 
deared to  them,  by  the  precious  dust  of  their  kindred  and 
compatriots,  which  was  sleeping  there. 

Who  can  say  what  bright  visions  of  future  glory  were 


44  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

opened  to  their  excited  imaginations.^  as  they  reflected, 
that  the  very  darkness  of  the  night  might  be  only  a  tit- 
ting  prelude  to  a  refulgent  morning. 

The  winter  had  passed  away.  "  Warm  and  fair  weather  " 
had  come  at  length,  and  the  birds,  as  their  record  states, 
"sung  in  the  woods  most  pleasantly."  Massasoit  had 
become  their  friend  and  ally,  and  Samoset  had  uttered  to 
them  his  salutation  of  "welcome  Englishmen!"  And, 
to  their  minds  thus  refined  and  sublimated  by  suffering, 
reminded  day  by  day  by  each  succeeding  death,  and  by 
each  new  throb  of  anguish,  more  and  more  deeply  of  the 
constraint,  which  despotism  had  imposed  upon  their  con- 
sciences, and  was  striving  to  perpetuate  upon  the  con- 
sciences of  their  posterity,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
that  wisdom  should  assume  the  character  of  enthusiasm ; 
that  the  deductions  of  reason  should  swell  into  the  in- 
spired convictions  of  duty;  and  that,  with  the  fortitude 
and  spirit  of  daring  which  attach  to  those  men,  in  whom 
a  sense  of  right  trampled  upon,  unites  with  a  feeling  of 
religious  obligation,  they  should  feel  amid  their  hin- 
drances, that  trials,  sufferings,  and  even  death  itself,  were 
nothing,  except  so  far  as  they  were  obstructions  to  the 
great  scheme,  to  which  God  had  consecrated  them,  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  world.  Is  it  too  improbable,  too 
unnatural  to  be  supposed,  that  the  events,  which  the  last 
two  centuries  have  brought  forth,  should  have  been  fore- 
shadowed to  their  enthusiasm,  in  what  seemed  to  them 
as  a  divine  revelation ;  that  they  should  have  felt,  that 
the  state  which  they  had  planted,  the  institutions  they 
had  designed, — and  designed  too  with  a  political  wisdom, 
of  which  neither  the  learning  of  Greece  or  Rome  ever 
dreamed, — "concealed  from  ages 'and  revealed  to  them," — 
were  to  be  extended  throughout  the  whole  great  conti- 
nent; that,  from  their  small  cabined  settlement,  the  march 
of  civilization  was  to  proceed  through  the  unexplored 
forest,  extinguishing  the  smoke  of  pagan  sacrifice,  and 
substituting  therefor  the  worship  of  the  true  God;  level- 
ing the  forests,  and  letting  in  the  sun  upon  the  sites  of 


ME.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  45 

thousands  of  future  towns  and  cities,  all  glowing  with 
the  civil  and  religious  liberty,  which  they  had  estab- 
lished, as  man's  inalienable  birthright;  and  to  extend, 
on  and  on,  till  the  shores  of  a  distant  and  unknown  ocean, 
whitened  by  the  sails  of  commerce,  and  studded  with  the 
beauty  of  thriving  cities,  should  be  the  ports  of  a  great 
highway,  from  which  civilization,  Christianity,  and  the 
blessings  of  a  free  government  were  to  embark  and  pass 
over  to  the  great  continent  of  the  pagan  world. 

The  eventful  fifth  of  April,  at  last,  came.  The  May- 
Flower  swung,  for  the  last  time,  at  her  moorings,  in  the  bay 
of  the  first  commonwealth  of  nations.  They  bade  adieu  to 
the  crew,  now  also  reduced  to  one-half  of  their  number;  the 
anchor  was  hoisted;  the  sails  were  spread;  and,  as  their 
brightness  faded  out,  in  the  eastern  horizon,  every  un- 
daunted Pilgrim,  man,  woman  and  child,  was  left  on  the 
inhospitable  shore,  with  little  else  but  their  bright  hopes, 
— glowing  up  from  their  sickness  and  their  solitude, — 
that  a  grateful  posterity  would  rejoice,  in  their  successful 
labors. 

Between  1620  and  1628  a  number  of  efforts  were  made, 
by  commercial  companies,  to  establish  colonies  in  'New 
England;  but  the  attempts  were  unsuccessful.  But,  in 

1629  and  1630,  a  new  colony  was  established  at  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  by  men  of  the  same  principles,  as  were  the  men 
of  Plymouth,  under  the  lead  of  Winthrop  and  his  associ- 
ates.     "It  is,"  in  the  language  of  the  governor,  "by  a 
mutual  consent,  through  a  special  over-ruling  Providence, 
and  a  more  than  ordinary  approbation  of  the  churches  of 
Christ,  to  seek  out  a  place  of  cohabitation  and  consqrtship, 
under  a  due  form  of  government,  both  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical."    Their  vessel  arrived  on  the  twelfth  of  June, 

1630  ;  and,  before  the  winter  set  in,  they  were  recruited 
by  a  goodly  company,  consisting  of  about  one  thousand 
of  well-conditioned,  intelligent  persons. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Plymouth  Colony,  and  such 
was  that  of  "the  Massachusetts  Bay."  Such  were  the 
labors,  the  dangers  and  the  sacrifices,  by  which  were  es- 


46 


WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 


tablished  the  institutions,  under  which  we  live.  Such  were 
the  men,  who  were  our  ancestors,  and  the  founders  of 
this  goodly  town. 

"  Such  time,  such  toil  required  the  Roman  name ; 
Such  length  of  labor  for  so  vast  a  frame." 

This  cursory  narration  of  the  history  of  the  two  leading 
New  England  colonies,  their  objects  and  purposes,  the 
character  of  the  colonists,  their  energy,  determination, 
persistence,  or,  if  you  please  so  to  call  it,  obstinacy, — but 
at  all  events,  it  was  a  resolution  founded  in  the  obliga- 
tions of  conscience, — renders  it  unnecessary  to  rehearse 
the  details  of  their  proceedings,  from  1630  down  to  the 
era  of  the  settlement  and  incorporation,  which  we  have 
met  to  commemorate.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that 
there  is  one  feature  of  their  policy,  which  protrudes  itself, 
as  a  remarkable  peculiarity  in  the  history  of  their  coloniz- 
ation. Ordinarily,  when  emigrants  have  gone  out  from 
the  parent  stock,  for  colonial  purposes,  it  has  been  to 
found  a  settlement  for  private  purposes  ;  to  found  a  town, 
or,  at  most,  a  city.  But,  this  was  no  part  of  the  Pilgrim 
scheme,  except,  as  it  was  auxiliary  to  the  great  plan  of 
forming  a  NATION.  They  did  not  land  at  Plymouth  to 
build  up  Plymouth,  as  a  single  town  or  city ;  or  select 
the  small  peninsula  of  Boston,  comprising  a  space  of  only 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  to  constitute  within  its 
limits,  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  They  came  to 
form  a  STATE  !  Their  intention  was  declared  before  their 
anchor  was  dropped  on  the  shore  of  the  new  world ;  and 
their  whole  subsequent  conduct,  conformed  to  their  de- 
clarations. That  great  instrument  of  civil  government, 
which  was  so  solemnly  subscribed  on  board  the  May- 
Flower,  au'd  in  which  they  pledged  their  mutual  faith  and 
their  consciences,  before  their  keel  grated  upon  the  sand, 
or  a  single  foot  had,  pressed  the  unknown  shore,  referred 
to  the  colony,  then  to  be  established,  as  the  first  colony, 
in  the  process  of  the  work ;  and,  scarcely  had  they  rose 
up  from  their  bed  of  sickness,  when  by  explorations,  and 
visits  to  distant  parts  of  the  wilderness,  they  took  meas- 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  47 

ures  to  plant  second,  third,  and  numerous  other  settle- 
ments, in  all  the  eligible  situations,  which  were  thereafter 
to  form,  and  augment  their  great  prospective  nation. 
And,  after  the  colony  had  increased  in  population,  by 
immigration  and  natural  increase,  although  it  consisted 
of  not  more  than  eight  thousand  persons,  besides  the 
chief  capital,  their  settlements  extended  along  the  shores 
of  the  bay,  in  the  vicinity,  to  the  north-easterly  part  of 
the  coast  of  Massachusetts;  to  the  Kennebec  and  the 
Penobscot,  and  even  to  the  mouth  of,  and  to  several 
points  along,  the  shores  of  the  Connecticut. 

The  enlargement  of  inhabited  territory,  proceeded  still 
more  rapidly  in  the  younger,  more  wealthy  and  vigorous 
colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Establishing  its  capital 
in  the  water-girt  peninsula,  it  sent  forth  its  pioneers  to 
every  coveted  position,  to  which  enterprise  could  push, 
or  the  love  of  adventure' could  wander.  They  rejected 
the  use  of  the  word  colony,  as  their  governmental  title, 
and  called  themselves  a  "body  politic,"  a  "jurisdiction," 
and,  in  the  end,  a  "commonwealth."  They  prescribed 
the  necessary  regulations  of  a  representative  government, 
and  divided  the  thirty  towns,  in  the  jurisdiction,  into 
four  counties,  which  bear  the  names  of  four  of  the  east- 
ern counties  of  the  commonwealth ;  and,  when  their 
charter  was  demanded  of  them,  by  the  government  of 
the  parent  country,  they  refused  to  return  it,  setting  forth, 
though  in  the  form  of  a  petition,  yet,  in  what  in  fact,  is  a 
manly  protest,  their  right  to  its  retention,  and,  under  it, 
to  the  privileges  of  self-government. 

And,  yet,  with  all  this  encroachment  upon  the  domains 
of  savageism, — this  emigration  to  isolated  nooks  and  cor- 
ners, in  a  boundless  continent, — this  establishment  of  trad- 
ing-posts, and  settlements,  and  towns,  at  a  distance  of  three 
weeks'  travel  from  the  center, — how  few  inhabitants  were 
there,  that  constituted  the  hive,  from  which  those  busy 
peoples  went  forth !  They  went  forth,  not  like  bees,  to 
gather,  and  return  ;  but  like  bees,  to  swarm.  Their  pur- 
pose was  to  build  up  new  hives  of  wealth  and  comfort; 


48  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

and  so  eager,  at  times,  was  this  zeal  to  build  up,  and  propa- 
gate the  germs  of  nationality, — that  peculiar  institution, 
which  constitutes  the  most  preservative  feature,  in  a  repre- 
sentative government,  a  TOWN, — that,  in  Plymouth,  the  an- 
ticipated evil  was  guarded  against,  by  a  legislative  check. 
Why,  in  the  year  1640,  the  painstaking  historian,  of  whom 
I. have  spoken,  estimated  the  population  of  Plymouth  at 
3,000,  New  Haven  2,500,  Connecticut  3,000  and  Massa- 
chusetts 15,000,  making  a  total  of  less  than  24,000  souls; 
and  from  that  time,  for  more  than  a  century  thereafter, 
the  increase  of  the  colonies  was  only  the  result  of  their 
own  natural  growth. 

Such  men, — sons  and  daughters  of  Westfield, — such 
men  as  these,  were  your  ancestors  !  Entertaining  these 
ideas  of  civil  polity,  and  impressed  and  possessed  by 
that  sentiment  of  the  course  of  national  progress,  first  to 
settle  and  establish,  then  to  extend  and  embrace,  and, 
finally,  to  strike  their  moving  tents,  and  march  onward  to 
new  enterprise,  and  more  distant  possession,  the  towns 
of  Plymouth,  Dorchester,  and  Massachusetts  Bay  pushed 
forward  to  Saybrook,  to  Hartford,  and  Windsor,  and, 
ultimately,  to  Agawam,  now  Springfield ;  and,  with 
scarcely  a  rest  from  the  toil  of  travel,  they  moved  onward, 
and  rested  upon  the  fertile  meadows,  and  on  the  beautiful 
hills,  and  by  the  swift  and  bright  waters  of  Woronoco. 

The  exact  time,  or  extent  of  the  first  settlement  here, 
is  a  matter  of  considerable  doubt.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Davis, 
in  his  brief  historical  sketch  of  Westfield,  fixes  it  between 
1658  and  1660,  grants  having  been  made  in  1658  to 
Thomas  Cooper,  in  1660  to  Dea.  Chapman,  and  in  1661 
to  Capt.  Pyuchon,  Robert  Ashley,  and  George  Colton. 
He  states,  that  a  number  of  other  persons,  viz.,  George 
Phelps,  Isaac  Phelps,  Capt.  Cook,  W.  Cornish,  Thomas 
Dewey,  J.  Noble,  David  Ashley,  John  Holyoke,  John 
Ponder,  and  John  Ingersol,  received  a  confirmation  of 
their  grants  of  real  estate,  and  took  up  their  residence 
here  in  1666.  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  who  appears  to 
have  made  an  extensive  examination  of  the  records,  fixes 


ME.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  49 

the  first  attempts  at  settlement  about  the  year  1662.  Both 
these  authors  state  the  interesting  fact,  that  the  first  child 
born  here,  was  Benjamin  Saxton,  in  1666,  who  lived  to 
the  age  of  eighty-eight  years,  and  whose  descendants  are 
now  among  our  present  population. 

Without  any  direct  evidence  of  the  fact,  there  are  cer- 
tain circumstances,  which  would  seem  to  justify  the  belief, 
that  the  settlements  commenced  at  Woronoco  at  an  ear- 
lier period  than  1658,  and  that  they  were  more  consider- 
able, than  those  authors  apprehended,  in  1666. 

Its  local  situation,  its  productive  soil,  its  capacity  for 
defense  against  an  Indian  foe,  the  abundance  of  fish, 
with  which  both  its  rivers  were  stocked,  the  large  num- 
ber of  beaver,  and  other  animals,  whose  furs  made  this 
place  an  important  point  in  the  commercial  traffic  of  the 
colony,  its  well  established  name,  appearing  often  in  the 
colonial  records,  the  establishment  of  trading-houses,  and 
the  contests  and  legislative  provisions  respecting  them, 
and  the  progressive  state  of  the  settlement,  at  the  time  of 
its  incorporation, — all  these  facts  forbid  the  belief,  that  it 
had  just  started  in  its  career  of  being,  in  the  short  space 
between  1658,  and,  more  especially  1666,  and  the  spring 
of  1669. 

It  appears,  by  the  colonial  records,  that,  in  1641,  it 
was  declared  by  the  General  Court,  that  the  people  of 
Connecticut  had  encroached  upon  the  domain  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay,  by  permitting  persons  of  theirs  to 
establish  a  trading  house  "at  Woronock."  A  character- 
istic letter  was  accordingly  sent  to  them  by  the  court,  af- 
firming their  rightful  jurisdiction,  expressing  their  love  of 
peaceful  means  of  conciliation  and  settlement ;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  affirming,  that  they  intend,  by  God's  help,  not 
to  suffer  what  belongs  to  them,  to  be  taken  from  them,  or 
their  posterity. 

What  would  seem  to  be  more  convincing,  if  not  con- 
clusive evidence  of  the  earlier  occupation,  is  an  entry 
upon  the  records  of  Massachusetts,  in  1647,  providing  that 
Woronoco  shall  be  a  part  of  the  town  of  Springfield,  and 

7 


50  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

liable  to  all  charges  there,  as  other  parts  of  the  same  town, 
until  it  shall  be  thought  fit,  by  the  court,  to  annex  it  to 
some  convenient  plantation.  It  was  further  provided,  as 
follows :  "  Mr.  Pinchin  is  authorized  to  make  freemen,  in 
the  town  of  Springfield,  of  those  that  are  in  covenant, 
and  live  according  to  their  profession  ;  and  Springfield, 
within  twelve  months,  is  to  bring  in  a  transcript  of  their 
land,  according  to  ye  law,  in  that  case  provided,  and 
a  true  note  of  the  time  of  all  their  births,  burials  and 
marriages."  It  was,  also,  ordered,  that  the  trading  houses, 
established  at  Woronoco,  and  all  trading  houses  to  be 
erected,  shall  be  contributory  to  all  public  and  common 
charges,  "both  in  towne  and  county." 

The  controversy,  relative  to  the  right  of  jurisdiction 
over  "Woronoco,  still  continued.  It  was  determined,  in 
1648  and  1649,  that  the  dividing  line  of  the  two  colonies 
should  be  run,  in  order  to  settle  the  question  of  title  to 
Woronoco ;  and  that  Mr.  Fen  wick,  on  the  part  of  the  col- 
ony of  Connecticut,  should  be  present.  But  he  failed  to 
appear  when  it  was  run  ;  "and  so  it  was,  that  Woronoco 
was  ordered  to  Massachusetts  ;  "  "  but  we  shall  be  ready 
to  greet  our  brethren  of  Connecticut  in  a  new  survey, 
so  as  they  will  be  at  the  whole  charge,  in  this,  as  we 
were  in  the  other,  and,  withal,  produce  their  patent  as  we 
have  done."  Fenwick,  before  that  time  had  stipulated, 
that,  "if  he  did  not  prove  to  the  commissioners  that  his 
line,  by  an  ancienter  patent,"  "doth  take  in  Woronoak," 
then  our  line  to  stand,  and  trading  houses  to  be  subject 
to  our  orders.  As  he  failed  to  appear,  it  is  probable,  that 
"our  friends  of  Connecticut"  had  ascertained,  that  their 
title  was  defective,  as  this  was  the  last  I  have  seen  of  the 
controversy,  relative  to  the  title  to  "Woronoco.  (Records 
of  Massachusetts,  vol.  3,  pages  131  and  164.) 

A  petition  was  made  to  the  General  Court,  in  1668,  by 
Aaron  Cooke,  "in  the  name  of  the  inhabitants  of  Woro- 
noake;"  and  "they  judged  it  meete  to  make  such /in 
addition  of  land  to  the  petitioners,  as  may  be  to  the  con- 
tents of  six  miles  square,  so  as  they  intrudeth  not  upon 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  51 

any  former  grants  to  towns  or  persons."  The  town  of 
Springfield  was  authorized  to  take  "  the  furtherance  of 
the  work  for  a  township."  This  grant  was  made  on  the 
condition,  that  a  minister  should  be  settled  within  two 
years,  and  the  inhabitants  were  granted  immunity  from 
taxes  for  the  county  for  three  years.  (Records  of  Massa- 
chusetts, vol.  4,  p.  405.) 

At  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  Springfield,  on  the 
2d  of  February,  1668,  action  was  taken  "  uppon  ye  mo- 
tion of  ye  inhabitants  at  Woronoco."  They  express  their 
willingness  to  further  their  desire  to  be  "  a  township  of 
themselves."  They  hope  that  "the  corte"  will  Border 
them  to  be  a  township  ;  and  that  they,  through  the  favor 
of  God,  may  grow  up  into  a  comfortable  society,  and  be 
a  happy  neighborhood  to  us  and  our  friends  and  theirs." 
(B.  113,  page  193,  Town  Records  in  Massachusetts  Ar- 
chives.) 

On  the  28th  of  May,  1669,  in  pursuance  of  the  former 
proceedings,  and  especially  of  the  vote  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Springfield,  the  General  Court  passed  an  order,  which 
I  insert  in  full,  in  a  note  hereto,  as  the  act  of  incorpora- 
tion of  the  town  of  Westfield. 

This  tract  of  land,  nine  miles  in  length,  and  of  the  av- 
erage width  of  four  and  one-half  miles,  was  of  a  size,  in- 
sufficient to  accommodate  our  progressive  ancestors. 
There  was  a  mountain  on  their  western  frontier,  rough, 
precipitous  and  stony;  and  it  was  judged  important  for 
the  interests  of  the  new  town,  present  and  prospective, 
that  they  should  have  a  right  of  access  to  it,  for  building- 
stone,  pasturage,  and  other  purposes.  In  compliance  with 
their  request,  the  General  Court  set  oft*  to  them  that  ad- 
ditional territory,  which  is  called  the  new  addition,  and 
which  now  forms  the  territory  of  Russell,  and  part  of 
Montgomery;  and,  when  the  town  of  Westfield  made 
sale  of  the  new  addition  lands,  they  reserved,  for  the  uses 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  forever,  the  right  of  quar- 
rying stone  from  certain  parts  of  the  territory  so  sold. 

Let  us  pause  here  a  moment,  and  contemplate  the  to- 


52  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

pography  of  this  domain,  which  was  thus  set  apart  for  the 
homes  of  our  fathers !  About  midway  from  its  north  and 
south  lines  is  a  natural  basin ;  and,  from  it,  the  river  breaks 
through  the  mountain,  that  forms  the  eastern  boundary, 
and  rushes,  at  times,  in  a  torrent  of  foam,  into  the  great 
river  of  New  England.  From  the  point  of  its  disembogue- 
ment,  a  range  of  hills,  of  a  hight  of  about  seventy  feet, 
curves  away  from  the  mountain,  like  a  circle  from  its  tan- 
gent, and  encloses  within  its  folds,  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful valleys  in  the  whole  country.  In  its  length,  from  north 
to  south,  it  is  about  three  and  one-half  miles;  from  east 
to  west,  about  two  and  one-half  miles;  and  it  is  sup- 
posed to  contain  from  two  thousand  five  hundred  to 
three  thousand  acres  of  meadow  land.  The  two  rivers, 
rushing  down  from  the  abrupt  mountains,  and  entering 
the  valley,  at  its  north-western  and  south-western  corners, 
and,  uniting  about  two  miles  from  the  eastern  border, 
embrace  the  site  of  the  original  town,  and  the  present  vil- 
lage, at  their  confluence.  Here  were  situated  those  early 
trading-houses,  which  had  been  the  subject  of  so  much 
legislative  diplomacy.  Here  was  erected  their  log-house 
church,  built  "barn-fation  with  a  bell-coney."  Here  was 
their  fort;  here  their  watch-house,  for  the  service  of  which, 
every  male  person  in  the  town,  of  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  was  enrolled,  to  guard  the  lives  of  the  sleepers,  from 
evening  till  sunrise;  and  here  were  laid  out  those  house- 
lots,  where  they  were  to  dwell,  in  watching  and  danger, 
till  at  last,  advancing  prosperity  should  give  to  them,  and 
their  posterity,  a  quiet  and  a  peaceful  home; 

The  allotments  of  lands  to  the  settlers,  were  similar  to 
those  in  other  towns,  which  were  exposed  to  Indian  depre- 
dations; but,  as  this  was  the  most  distant  and  western 
post,  and,  from  the  large  number  of  Indians,  who  resided 
in  the  vicinity,  was  peculiarly  exposed  to  their  hostile  at- 
tacks, greater  caution  against  surprise  and  attack  was  ex- 
ercised, than  was  customary  in  settlements  more  contigu- 
ous to  each  other.  The  principal  settlement  was  made 
near  the  Little  River,  at  what  is  now  the  iron  bridge. 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  53 

The  old  fort  was  built  of  logs,  over  a  large  cellar,  which 
was  constructed  and  prepared  as  a  place  of  refuge  for  the 
women  and  non-combatants,  in  the  hours  of  warfare.  A 
strong  palisade,  of  about  two  miles  in  circuit,  surrounded 
the  settlement,  which  was  constantly  guarded;  and,  within 
it,  were  the  dwellings  of  the  people.  Village  lots  were 
apportioned  to  each  householder,  in  size,  according  to  the 
number  of  his  family,  and,  perhaps  the  local  skuation  as 
affecting  value;  the  quantity  of  land  distributed  being 
from  one-half,  to  three-quarters  of  an  acre,  to  each  mem- 
ber of  the  family.  The  number  of  settlers  being  so  nu- 
merous, and  the  land  absorbed  by  this  allotment  being  so 
extended,  as  to  menace  the  security  of  the  settlement,  an 
arrangement  was  made,  by  a  committee  appointed  by  the 
General  Court,  in  1677,  and  subsequently  sanctioned  by  it, 
for  a  consolidation  of  the  people  into  a  more  compact  com- 
munity. By  this  arrangement,  the  proprietors  of  town 
lots  in  "Westfield,  near  "their  meeting-house,"  agreed,  by 
a  general  vote,  "to  break  their  lots,"  and  allow  other  per- 
sons, living  more  remote,  to  settle  upon  them,  the  persons 
so  giving  up  their  portions  to  the  new  occupants,  receiv- 
ing two  ^acres  in  quantity,  of  town  lots  more  remote,  for 
every  acre  so  relinquished.  (Records  of  Massachusetts, 
vol.  5,  p.  238.) 

The  site  of  the  church,  was  the  reqent  town-pound,  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  near  Maj.  George  Taylor's.  The  old 
fort  stood  near  the  bank  of  the  river,  as  it  then  was ;  but  the 
site  has  been  carried  away  by  the  shifting  encroachments 
of  the  stream.  On  the  land  adjacent,  on  the  south  side  of 
the  road,  there  are  still  to  be  found  the  remains  of  old  wells', 
which  were  built  for  the  uses  of  the  early  inhabitants. 

The  concentration  of  the  settlement  into  a  compact 
body,  not  in  blocks  of  buildings,  but  in  houses,  situated 
upon  small  lots  of  one-half,  three-quarters  of,  or  an  acre 
each,  though  sufficient,  as  a  successful  measure  of  defense, 
was  yet  of  a  greater,  wider  and  more  permanent  benefit 
to,  and  influence  upon  the  settlers  themselves,  upon  their 
posterity,  and  upon  the  whole  country,  to  which  New  Eng- 


51  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

land  people  since  have  emigrated.  It  brought  the  whole 
population  into  one  neighborhood;  and  thus  made  them, 
as  well  in  fact,  as  in  words,  neighbors.  It  assembled  them 
around  the  meeting-house  and  the  school-house.  It  gave 
to  them,  not  only  by  the  proximity,  but  by  the  influence  of 
example,  the  stimulus  to  give  their  attendance  upon  the 
means  of  education  and  improvement;  it  deepened  the 
social  feeling  between  their  families ;  identified  them  with 
each  other's  interests;  softened  the  roughness  of  the  too 
austere  and  rigid,  and  checked  the  waywardness  of  the 
impulsive  and  heedless,  by  the  attrition  of  antagonistic 
natures;  in  this  way  softening  and  smoothing  down  the  as- 
perities of  life,  and  creating  such  a  unity  of  feeling,  in  the 
midst  of  common  objects,  common  desires  and  common 
dangers,  as  to  give  to  each  settlement  the  character  of  a 
family. 

The  effect,  also,  upon  their  material  prosperity  was  not 
less  salutary.  The  erection  of  their  houses,  each  proprie- 
tor's upon  his  own  lot,  with  its  neat  white  palings,  its  well- 
kept  yard  and  garden,  its  flowers,  shrubbery  and  trees, 
improved,  year  by  year,  by  the  influence  of  example  and 
rivalry,  the  homes  rendered  more  attractive,  and  more  dear 
by  each  improvement,  and  the  effects,  also,  produced  upon 
other  villages  by  this  example,  have  given  to  a  New  Eng- 
land village  a  peculiar  beauty,  which  stands,  as  a  distinc- 
tive mark  of  its  early  origin.  No  one,  who  travels  over 
the  distant  parts  of  our  own  country,  and  contrasts  the  ap- 
pearances of  the  different  towns,  and,  sometimes,  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  same  town,  will  be  at.  a  loss  to  deter- 
mine, by  those  appearances  themselves,  the  sectional  char- 
acter of  the  inhabitants;  at  all  events,  he  will  know  the 
source,  from  whence  they  emanated.  We  have  not  been 
apt  to  consider,  as  models  of  taste  and  refinement  in  archi- 
tecture, or  landscape-gardening,  the  warriors  of  the  bow 
and  arrow,  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife ;  but,  it  would 
seem,  that  we  are  indebted,  for  the  rural  beauty,  which 
ornaments  the  hills  and  valleys  of  New  England,  to  the 
aborigines  of  the  wilderness. 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  55 

The  earliest  parts  of  the  records,  both  of  this  town  and 
of  Springfield,  have  become  so  much  dilapidated,  or  have 
been  to  such  a  degree  destroyed, — and  judging  from  what 
remains  of  them,  they  were,  in  their  best  estate,  too  im- 
perfect as  a  basis  of  a  correct  history, — that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  furnish  an  account,  even  tolerably  accurate,  of  the 
population,  the  town  officers,  the  names  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, and  other  facts,  which  would  be  interesting  and 
instructive  to  us,  at  the  present  day. 

I  find,  however,  the  names  of  twenty-eight  persons 
mentioned,  as  among  .the  inhabitants  of  Westfield,  at,  or 
very  soon  after  the  settlement ;  the  catalogue  of  which, 
with  many  other  of  the  statistics,  relating  to  the  town,  is 
more  proper  for  a  note,  or  insertion  in  an  appendix,  than 
for  the  body  of  this  address. 

It  appears  that  the  first  mill  erected  in  the  town,  was 
on  the  brook,  in  the  easte'rly  part  of  the  town,  formerly 
Fowler's,  Ensign's,  Pease's,  and  now  Stebbins  &  Gris- 
vold's, — the  mill  at  Great  River,  at  an  early  period  called 
vVeller's  mill,  and  now  Yeamans',  not  having  been  erected 
mtil  long  afterwards. 

In  1671,  Alquot  and  Wallump,  two  sachems  of  Po- 
jassets,  presented  a  petition  to  the  General  Court,  alleg- 
ing, that  Lieut.  Cooper  had  obtained  from  Amoakisson  a 
deed  of  a  tract  of  their  own  land,  and  praying  for  redress. 
The  General  Court  promptly  referred  the  matter  to  the 
Court  at  Hampshire,  for  inquiry  and  indemnification. 

In  1674,  Samuel  Loomis  was  appointed  as  ensign,  and 
in  1676,  John  Modesley  as  lieutenant  to  the  "  footte  " 
company  in  Westfield. 

In  1675,  the  taxes  assessed  by  the  Genera]  Court,  to  the 
following  towns,  were  as  follows :  Springfield,  X26,  5s.,  bd. ; 
Northampton,  £22,  2s.,  IQd.;  Hartley,  .£18, 10s.,  9</.;  West- 
field,  £11,  16s.;  and  Hatficld,  <£8,  12s. 

In  1679,  John  Maudesly  and  Thomas  Noble  presented 
a  petition  to  the  General  Court  for  the  allowance  of  the 
town  returns,  which  was  granted. 

I  find  the  following  memorandum  in  the  papers  of  my 


56  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

father,  the  late  Elijah  Bates,  and  in  his  handwriting : 
•'In  1661,  a  tract  of  land,  being  now  the  center  of  West- 
field,  was  granted  to  Capt.  Pynchon,  Robert  Ashley,  and 
George  Colton,  on  condition  of  becoming  permanent  set- 
tlers, by  a  committee  of  those  settled  in  Springfield 
which  was  first  settled  in  1635:  William  Pynchon  was 
one  of  the  patentees  in  the  colony  charter,  and  removed 
from  England  in  about  1629.  The  original  limits  of 
Springfield  were  twenty-five  miles  square, — now  embrac- 
ing ten  incorporated  towns."  It  was  made  on  a  loose  slip 
of  paper,  as  was  his  custom,  and  came  to  me  by  accident. 
I  have  hot  been  able  to  trace  the  facts  contained  in  it,  to 
their  source. 

In  the  year  1667,  one  year  after,  according  to  Holland, 
its  permanent  settlement,  and  two  years  before  its  incorpo- 
ration, in  accordance  with  that  sentiment,  which  pervaded 
the  policy  of  the  whole  people,  the  first  settlers  proceed- 
ed to  make  provision  for  the  public  worship  of  God. 
Mr.  John  Holyoke  of  Springfield,  who  had  become  one 
of  the  settlers  at  Woronoco,  was  engaged,  temporarily,  to 
perform  the  duties  of  the  pulpit.  The  church  was  erected 
on  the  ground  near  the  house  of  Major  George  Taylor. 
Mr.  Holyoke's  services  were  continued  only  for  a  few 
months.  He  then  ceased  to  labor  in  this  vineyard,  and 
retired  from  the  ministerial  profession. 

Rev.  Moses  Fiske  succeeded  Mr.  Holyoke,  and  preached 
here,  as  a  candidate  for  settlement.  He  continued  here 
from  1668  to  1671,  when  he  left  the  situation,  and  was 
finally  settled  at  Quiucy. 

Rev.  Edward  Taylor,  in  that  year,  commenced  his  la- 
bors, with  a  view  to  a  settlement,  and  continued  here 
until  his  death,  June  24,  1728,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven 
years.  His  "  table  "  still  stands  in  the  old  burying-ground, 
with  an  inscription,  characterizing  him  as  "the  aged,  the 
venerable,  the  learned,  and  the  pious  pastor,"  etc. ;  and  a 
marble  slab  has  been  placed  in  the  wall  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational Church,  with  a  suitable  inscription  thereon, 
by  one  of  his  descendants.  His  residence  was  adjacent 


MR.  BATES'  ADDEESS.  57 

to  his  church  ;  and  he  lived  and  died  in  the  house  near 
Major  George  Taylor's  where  the  late  Jedediah  Taylor 
lived,  until  his  death.  His  lands,  at  that  point,  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  town,  are  now  owned  by  his  descend- 
ants. Age  and  its  infirmity,  at  the  close  of  his  life,  ren- 
dered him  unable  to  perform  all  the  duties  of  his  pastor- 
ate; and  the  Rev.  Nehemiah  Bull  was  ordained,  as  his 
colleague,  in  October,  1726.  He  was  a  young  man,  kept 
a  grammar  school  in  the  town,  preached  half  the  time, 
and  died  in  1740,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  ministry. 

Mr.  Taylor  married  in  1674,  Elizabeth  Fitch,  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  James  Fitch,  the  first  clergyman  of  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut,  and  she  is  said  to  have  been  a  highly 
educated  and  accomplished  lady.  One  of  his  love-letters 
to  her  is  extant,  among  the  collections  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  that  state,  a  copy  of  which  is  published  in  the 
volume,  containing  an  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
bi-centennial  celebration  in  that  city  on  the  7th  and  8th 
of  September,  1859.  It  is  there  entitled  "A  Model  Love- 
Letter;"  and,  truly,  it  deserves  the  appellation.  While 
it  displays  the  warmth  of  his  love,  and  the  intensity  of 
his  devotion,  it  also  develops  the  character  of  his  mind, 
and  the  engrossing  and  absorbing  nature  of  his  thoughts. 
I  attach  a  copy  of  it,  as  an  interesting  note,  in  the  Ap- 
pendix. One  of  his  daughters  was  the  mother  of  Presi- 
dent Stiles  of  Yale  College.  He  lived  with  his  first  wife 
fifteen  years,  and  after  her  decease  he  married  a  second 
time. 

PROPOSAL  TO  ABANDON  THE  SETTLEMENT !— KING 
PHILIP'S  WAR. 

It  proved  to  be  fortunate  for  the  town,  as  it  was  fortu- 
nate, also,  for  the  settlements  upon  the  river,  that  such  a 
man  as  Mr.  Taylor  was  called  hither.  He  soon  became 
connected  with  an  event,  where  the  interests  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  colony  became  involved,  which  required  his 
energy,  his  talent  and  his  foresight  to  conduct  to  a  success- 
ful issue.  In  the  year  1675,  commenced  the  King  Philip 
war.  The  other  wars  of  this  country,  in  which  so  many 
8 


58  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

of  our  youth  have  been  sent  forth  to  the  post  of  suffering 
and  danger,  have  borne  heavily  upon  the  town ;  but  the 
war  which  desolated  New  England,  just  one  century  be- 
fore the  great  revolutionary  struggle,  was  one,  not  for  the 
change  in  form  of  government,  or  for  the  maintenance 
of  charter  rights,  merely,  but  a  conflict  for  life  itself. 

Philip  was  the  son  of  Massasoit,  the  first  friend  of  the 
colonists,  from  the  time  of  their  landing,  until  his  death 
in  1662.  He  had  been  brought  up  with  them  in  peaceful 
relations ;  and,  after  his  accession  to  the  chieftainship  of 
his  tribe,  he  continued  the  amicable  treaty  arrangements, 
which  his  father  had  'established.  But  he  was  endowed 
with  a  different  character  from  that  of  the  peaceful  old 
chief,  from  whom  he  sprung.  He  had  seen  the  growth 
of  the  colonies,  until  the  white  men  in  New  England, 
equalled  the  number  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants.  He 
saw  their  advancing  superiority ;  and,  in  that  advance,  he 
foresaw  the  downfall  of  the  Indian  power.  One  des- 
perate effort  must  be  made  to  sustain  his  supremacy. 

With  the  feeling,  doubtless,  of  the  East  Indian  prince, 
who  undertook  to  drive  the  English  from  the  plains  of 
the  Carnatic,  he  composed  his  differences  with  all  the 
neighboring  tribes,  allied  his  foes  to  his  own  people,  with 
a  common  purpose,  and  then  proceeded  to  visit  with  fire 
and  sword,  the  settlements  of  the  colonists.  Their  ad- 
vances and  their  retreats  were  marked  with  desolation  and 
death.  The  industry  of  the  people  was  at  once  paralyzed. 
The  implements  of  labor  were  laid  aside,  or  used  only 
in  connection  with  the  weapons  of  warfare.  The  labors 
of  the  day  were  protected  by  armed  men,  and  strict  vigi- 
lance gave  to  the  repose  of  the  night  its  only  security. 

It  was  in  the  frontier  settlements,  that  the  war  was 
especially  terrible.  Deerfield,  Hadley,  Northampton, 
Springfield,  Westfield  and  Hartford,  were  each  so  widely 
separated,  as  to  be  of  no  assistance  to  each  other  in  a  hos- 
tile attack;  and,  yet,  they  were  near  enough  to  behold  the 
flames  of  ruin,  and  to  feel  the  terror  and  distress,  which 
arose  "from  the  savage  devastation.  So  impressed  with 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  59 

the  insecurity  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  several  towns, 
was  the  central  government  at  Boston,  that  they  issued  a 
letter  of  advice,  which  was,  in  effect,  an  order  to  the  col- 
onists, to  desert  the  settlements,  and  unite  themselves 
with  the  inhabitants  of  other  towns,  for  more  efficient 
protection.  Their  letter  of  March  20,  1676,  contains  the 
announcement  of  their  purpose,  and  the  letter  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Council  is  still  more  definite.  It  concludes 
with  the  following  significant  intimation  : 

"  If  you  people  be  averse  from  our  advice,  we  must  be 
necessated  to  draw  off  our  forces  from  them,  for  we  can 
not  spare  them,  nor  supply  them  with  ammunition."  As 
showing  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  the  courage  and  reso- 
lution of  the  men,  I  append  the  extract,  I  have  spoken 
of,  and  the  corresponding  portion  of  the  report  of  the 
committee  of  the  town  of  Westfield, — Isaac  Phelps,  David 
Ashley,  and  Josiah  Dewey,  as  drawn  up  by  the  Rev.  Ed- 
ward Taylor. 

As  will  be  perceived  by  the  records  of  the  town,  the 
orders  of  the  Council  were  received  with  a  feeling  of 
indignation,  in  which  their  neighbors  of  Northampton, 
joined ;  and,  such  was  the  strength  of  the  opposition,  that 
the  order  was  revoked,  and  thus  the  most  distant  and  ex- 
posed towns  became  their  own  defenders. 

No  organized  attack  was  made  upon  the  town 'during 
the  war,  by  the  savage  foe.  It  was  rather  a  series  of  pred- 
atory incursions  by  scattered  parties  of  the  tribes,  for  the 
sake  of  plunder  and  devastation.  The  buildings  of  Mr. 
Cornish,  Mr.  Ambrose  Fowler,  John  Sackett,  "Walter  Lee, 
and  others,  were  consumed,  and  several  persons  were  shot, 
and  carried  away  captives.  On  one  occasion,  Noah  Ashley, 
returning  from  his  work  at  Pochassuc,  encountered  an  In- 
dian near  the  Bancroft  house.  Ashley  had  the  draw,  and 
the  Indian  fled;  but  his  blood  was  traced  in  the  path  of 
his  escape.  The  spot  has  since  been  called  "Indian  Plain." 

The  operations  of  husbandry,  at  this  p'eriod,  were  car- 
ried on  under  the  protection  of  arms.  The  loaded  mus- 
ket stood  upon  the  threshing-floor,  and  beside  the  ditcher 


60  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

and  the  mower;  and,  when  the  field  was  distant,  an  armed 
sentry  was  present,  to  give  timely  alarm.  All  night,  sen- 
tries kept  watch  in  the  turret  of  the  watch-house,  and  pa- 
trolled the  palisades,  to  guard  the  sleeping  inhabitants  from 
savage  atrocities.  There  was,  in  fact,  the  realization  of 
that  terrible  picture,  drawn  by  the  graphic  pencil  of  Ames, 
in  his  celebrated  speech  upon  the  British  treaty,  and  which 
classical  taste  has  enrolled  among  the  choicest  specimens 
of  eloquence. 

It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  the  circumstances,  in 
which  they  were  placed,  and  the  unanimously  decided  and 
manly  resolution  they  adopted,  without  admiration  of  their 
courage,  their  fortitude,  and  their  foreseeing  wisdom.  We 
are  too  apt  to  associate  bravery  only  with  the  exploits  of 
the  battle-field.  We  do  not  reflect,  how  much  surround- 
ing causes  have  to  do  with  personal  exposure ;  that  often, 
under  a  greater  fear,  the  coward  seems  to  be  courageous 
in  the  face  of  danger,  and  to  fight,  with  the  desperation  of 
a  brave  man.  But,  in  the  case  of  our  fathers,  there  was 
nothing  to  sustain  them,  but  their  own  fortitude,  inspired 
by  their  own  high  hopes  of  the  future.  It  was  no  holiday 
warfare  which  was  impending !  They  were  not  called  to 
meet  a  disciplined  army  in  hostile  array,  in  which  those 
who  should  fall  would  be  embalmed  in  the  records  of 
their  country,  while  the  survivors  would  be  crowned  as 
conquerors,  or,  at  the  worst,  duly  exchanged,  as  prisoners 
of  war.  It  was,  in  terrible  truth,  a  war  to  the  knife,  and 
the  knife  to  the  hilt!  The  result  was  to  be,  literally, 
"victory  or  death!"  not  a  death  by  the  sword  or  the  ball, 
but  by  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife ;  by  the  "torch 
and  burning  pine ! "  not  a  death  to  them  only,  but  a  death 
of  extermination  of  all  their  kindred!  a  death  so  beauti- 
fully described  by  Campbell,  in  the  language  of  the  sole 

survivor  of  an  Indian  ambush : — 

• 

"He  left,  of  all  my  tribe, 
Nor  man,  nor  child,  nor  thing  of  living  birth  ; 
No !  not  the  dog  that  watched  my  household  hearth, 
Escaped  that  night  of  blood  upon  our  plains  ! 


MK.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  61 

All  perished !— I  alone,  am  left  on  earth ! 
To  whom  nor  relative,  nor  blood  remains, — 
No !  not  a  drop  that  runs  in  human  veins !  " 

Nor,  can  we  fail  to  admire,  also,  the  heroism  of  those, 
who  were  left  almost  alone  in  their  homes  of  precarious 
safety,  when  the*  stalwart  men  of  the  settlement  went 
forth  to  war.  The  infirm,  and  those  of  immature  age, 
were  their  only  defenders.  It  was  for  them  to  protect  the 
families  against  a  stealthy  foe,  whose  war-whoop  was  fol- 
lowed, at  once,  by  the  torch  and  the  tomahawk,  which, 
too  often,  awoke,  and  silenced  a  whole  settlement.  They 
were  the  guardians,  who,  from  the  summit  of  the  watch- 
tower,  were  to  watch,  and  listen  through  the  long  days, 
and  the  longer  nights,  for  the  approach  of  the  savage, 
and  to  patrol,  during  the  same  periods,  along  the  poorly- 
constructed  palisades.  In  the  meantime,  the  anxious 
mothers  were  snatching  their  broken  slumbers,  in  the  em- 
braces of  their  terrified  children,  their  rest  disturbed  by 
dreams  of  danger,  and  visions  of  disaster.  No  historian 
of  the  times  has  hitherto  essayed  to  describe  the  agony  of 
those,  who  watched  and  prayed  for  the  friends,  who  had 
gone  forth  to  conquer,  or  to  die.  The  imaginatiop,  only, 
can  conceive  the  intensity  of  their  distress.  And,  when 
the  welcome  signal  of  their  return  was  given  from  the 
watch-tower,  and  their  voices  were  heard  advancing 
through  the  arches  of  the  forest,  as  the  appalling  thought 
rose  up  before  them,  that  some  of  their  husbands  were 
sleeping  in  undistinguished  graves,  and  the  mournful 
question  was  presented  to  each  anxious  mother, — "Has 
my  home  been  made  desolate?" — whose  imagination  is 
vivid  enough  to  depicture  the  poignancy  of  their  agony. 

The  result  justified  the  wisdom  of  their  decision.  The 
war  was  scarcely  ended,  before  prosperity  dawned  upon 
the  new  town.  Thrift  followed  upon  their  industry.  Xew 
colonists  increased  their  population.  Houses  were  built, 
and  lands  cultivated  at  more  remote  distances.  The 
school-house  was  removed  to  a  more  eligible  situation. 
The  church  accommodations  became  too  contracted  for 


62  WESTFIELD   BI-CEXTENNIAL. 

the  worshipers,  and  the  meeting-house  itself  too  homely 
for  the  taste  of  the  people.  In  1696,  it  was  voted,  to  build 
a  gallery  on  one  side  of  the  meeting-house ;  and,  in  1697, 
the  selectmen  were  directed  to  repair,  and  paint  the 
meeting-house,  so  as  "  to  make  it  comley  and  comfortable, 
as  speedy  as  may  be,"  at  the  expense  of* the  town. 

Beside  the  mills,  already  established,  in  the  same  year, 
they  granted  to  Thomas  Root,  Lieutenant  Root,  Nathan- 
iel Bancroft,  and  David  Ashley,  Jr.,  liberty  to  get  up  a 
grist-mill  over  the  West  Kiver,  at  the  place  called  "  the 
Half-Mile  Fall."  They  also  became  disgusted  with  the 
old-fashioned  mode  of  collecting  the  people  at  worship, 
by  the  beat  of  drum,  and  purchased  a  bell  for  the  meeting- 
house, at  a  cost  of  two  hundred  acres  of  laud,  in  the 
south  part  of  the  town,  and  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sims- 
bury  road. 

It  seems,  that  the  meeting-house,  thus  erected,  was  not 
sufficient  for  the  wants  of  the  increasing  town ;  and  after- 
wards, on  the  17th  of  November,  1719,  a  meeting  was 
called  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  new  one.  Considerable 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  fixing  upon  a  site;  and,  at 
last,  a  committee,  consisting  of  Deacon  Nathaniel  Munn, 
Lieutenant  John  Mirick,  and  BenjaminLennard  of  Spring- 
field, were  appointed  to  fix  the  site.  On  the  24th  of  the 
same  month,  they  made  their  report  as  follows  : 

"  Gentlemen  seeing  God  in  his  providence  hath  Called  us  acor- 
ding  to  your  desiers  to  consider  your  surcomstances  and  where  may  bee 
ye  Convenientest  place  for  you  to  set  your  meeting-house,  our  Result  is 
on  the  North-west  corner  of  Capt.  Maudsley's  lot  by  the  medow  gate. 

BENJAMIN  LENARD, 
NATHANIEL  MUN, 
JOHN  MERICK. 

This  report  was  not  satisfactory ;  and,  at  the  meeting 
of  its  presentation,  another  reference  of  the  subject  was 
made  to  Col.  Samuel  Partridge.  He  reported,  that  having, 
with  the  assistance  of  Capt.  John  Ashley,  and  Lieut. 
Adijah  Dewey,  viewed  the  several  places,  viz.,  one  near 
"the  cyder-press,"  which  he  judged  was  too  far  westerly 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  63 

"  for  Conviniencey  of  the  people's  meeting  at  ye  present ; " 
also,  the  "nor-west  corner  of  Deacon  Root,  diseased's  lot," 
"which  was  too  near  ye  dwelling-houses;  "  also,  "the  lot 
where  old  John  Satchet  lived,  too  much  to  the  south  end  of 
the  town,  and  the  old  meeting-house,  much  more;  and 
Capt.  Maudsley's  pasture,  too  near  Samuel  Root's  barn," — 

"  Therefore  I  have  matuerly  vewed  the  knowl  on  Capt.  Maudsley's 
lot  on  the  North  side  of  ye  way  behind  his  housing  Close  to  ye  high- 
way I  hereby  determine  to  bee  the  place  for  erecting  and  seting  up  ye 
new  meeting-house  this  I  deliver  as  my  positive  opinion  upon  the 
premises.  SAMUEL  PARTRIDGE." 

This  decisron  was  the  final  one.  An  objection  was  made 
at  the  next  May  meeting;  but  the  town  confirmed  it,  and, 
on  the  sixth  day  of  June,  1720,  it  was  voted,  that  the  rais- 
ing should  commence  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  same  June, 
at  two  hours  by  sun,  by  the  beat  of  drum ;  and  that  every 
male  citizen  of  the  age  of  seventeen  years  should  attend, 
day  by  day,  till  the  work  was  done,  on  pain  and  penalty 
of  three  shillings  per  day,  without  a  satisfactory  excuse. 

The  meeting-house  was  paid  for  by  the  town,  and  seats 
were  allotted  to  the  inhabitants,  according  to  the  dignity 
of  the  pews.  The  pews,  nearest  to  the  pulpit,  were,  by 
vote,  the  first  in  dignity;  and  the  scale  of  dignity  of  the 
inhabitants  was  compounded  of  age,  and  their  ratable  as- 
sessment on  the  tax-list, — one  year  of  age,  being  equal  to 
two  pounds  of  assessment.  Committees,  from  time  to 
time,  were  appointed  "to  seat  the  meeting-house,"  and 
this  was  clone,  sometimes  yearly,  and,  at  others,  as  changes 
in  the  population  required. 

The  salary  voted,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  support  of 
the  minister,  in  addition  to  the  generous  allotments  of 
land,  was  extremely  liberal.  Mr.  Taylor  received  at  first 
£50,  and,  subsequently,  in  1686,  it  was  raised  to  £SO. 
When  Mr.  Bull  was  settled,  he  was  given  a  lot  of  three 
acres  in  town,  and  ten  acres  in  common ;  and  there  was 
also  allotted  to  him  thirty-six  acres  in  the  division  of  the 
outer  commons.  His  salary,  at  his  settlement  was  jClOO, 


64  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNTAL. 

with  occasional  gratuities,  at  one  time  of  £10,  at  another 
of  £20,  and,  at  still  another  time,  an  allowance  of  £125 
was  given  him,  to  aid  in  the  payment  of  his  debts.  His 
desire  for  an  increase  of  salary,  seemed  to  increase  with 
the  abundance  of  the  people.  In  1734,  it  was  raised  to 
£150  ;  in  1737  to  £180,  and,  at  a  subsequent  meeting,  in 
the  same  year,  £20  was  voted  him  in  addition  thereto. 
The  conduct  of  Mr.  Bull  gave  great  dissatisfaction  to  the 
town.  At  a  meeting,  November  30,  1738,  a  committee 
was  appointed  "  to  discourse  with  him  "  on  the  subject ; 
and  Thomas  Ingersol,  Esq.,  Matthew  Noble,  John  Gunn, 
John  Lee,  Ensign  Mosley,  Samuel  Kellogg  and  Nathaniel 
Bancroft  were  chosen  such  committee.  The  following 
vote,  which  is  at  least  temperate  in  its  terms,  is  spread 
upon  the  record  : 

"  That  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bull's  conduct,  and  treatment  of  the  people 
of  this  town,  is  matter  of  grievance  to  them." 

It  is  to  be  supposed,  that,  as  Mr.  Bull  died  the  follow- 
ing year,  his  offenses  were  probably,  in  some  measure, 
attributable  to  his  disease.  At  all  events,  his  salary  of 
£240  was  voted  to  him  for  the  next, — which  was  the 
last, — year  of  his  life.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1723. 

I  find  in  the  town  records,  of  February  23,  1725-6,  the 
following  vote,  which  is  of  rather  doubtful  construction  : 

"  Voted,  That  the  town  will  Give  Mr.  bull  501b  for  preaching  for  a 
year  ensuing  one  half  Day  Each  Sabbath,  and  to  rise  proportionally 
according  to  his  preaching, — and  after  this  year  is  ended  to  Give  Mr. 
bull  a  Reasonable  Salary  for  his  servys  in  the  minestry  from  year  to 
year  as  Long  as  he  shall  Carry  on  the  service  aforesaid." 

Inasmuch,  as  the  period  of  time  was  fixed  by  the  vote, 
and  also  the  amount  of  preaching  to  be  "carried  on,"  on 
each  day  during  the  time,  it  might  admit  of  a  question, 
whether  the  proportional  advance  of  pay  for  the  preach- 
ing, was  not  to  depend  upon  the  quality  of  the  sermons, 
and  not  upon  their  increased  number. 

The  Rev.  John  Ballantine,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  Col- 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  65 

lege,  succeeded  Mr.  Bull,  in  1741.  The  church  and  the 
inhabitants,  -having  by  concurrent  votes  agreed  unani- 
mously thereto,  Deacon  John  Shepard  was  appointed  "  to 
take  the  advice  of  the  neighboring  ministers,  and  to  re- 
pair to  the  Eev.  Mr.  Holyoke,  President  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  any  other  reverend  gentleman,  qualified  to  give 
voice  and  counsil,"  in  reference  to  a  candidate.  In  ac- 
cordance with  his  report,  a  call  was  given  to  Mr.  Ballan- 
tiue.  The  town  voted  him  £500  in  a  house  and  home  lot, 
purchased  of  Kev.  Mr.  Bull,  as  a  settlement,  and  £200 
in  bills  of  credit,  or  silver  mone}T,  as  a  salary.  Mr.  Bal- 
lantine  died  in  1776,  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  his  ministry. 

Mr.  Ballantiue  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Noah  Atwater 
of  Hampden,  Conn.,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  in  1774. 
He  was  ordained  November  21,  1781,  and  died  January 
25,  1802,  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  ministerial  service. 
For  a  few  years,  he  was  a  tutor  in  Yale  College,  and  is 
reputed  to  have  been  an  excellent  scholar.  It  is  said,  that 
he  never  repeated  the  same  sermon  to  an  audience,  and 
always  was  prepared  with  his  two  sermons  for  the  Sabbath, 
on  the  previous  Tuesday  evening.  He  kept  an  advance 
supply  of  twenty  sermons.  This  systematic  method  in 
his  labor,  gave  him  much  time  for  his  parochial  and  social 
calls.  It  gave  him  an  opportunity,  also,  for  those  scien- 
tific observations,  upon  the  phenomena  of  nature,  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  record,  and  which  were  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  late  President  Dwight.  He  was  an  early 
riser,  always  rising  before  the  sun  in  all  parts  of  the  year. 
It  is  said  that  he  kept  up  his  acquaintance  with  his  classi- 
cal studies,  and  occasionally  instructed  young  men,  in  pre- 
paring for  college. 

Leaving,  for  the  present,  the  order  of  the  ecclesiastical 
succession,  I  revert  to  the  period  in  the  history  of  the 
town,  about  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  A  portion 
of  the  lands  of  the  town,  had  been  distributed  as  house- 
lots,  to  the  different  early  proprietors,  in  quantities,  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  the  members  of  their  respective 
families.  Equitable  distributions  of  land  were  also  made 
9 


66  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

to  the  proprietors,  both  in  the  inner  and  outer  commons; 
and  contracts  for  sales  were  also  consummated  of  large 
tracts  of  out  lands,  or  lands  in  the  new  addition,  to  vari- 
ous purchasers.  In  the  year  1731,  January  10,  the  divi- 
sional lines  were  established  between  the  inner  and  puter 
commons.  A  strip  of  land,  two  miles  in  width,  across 
the  northerly  end  of  the  township,  was  set  off  as  the 
northern  common ;  and,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Little 
River,  a  line  from  the  mouth  of  Munn's  brook,  to  Two-Mile 
Brook,  and  thence  to  Four-Mile  Brook,  and  thence  to  East 
Mountain,  divided  the  south  common,  from  the  center,  or 
inner  common.  At  the  town-meeting,  on  that  day,  it  was 
decided  to  divide  the  outer  common  lands,  not  sold,  among 
the  people,  and  grants  to  one  hundred  and  seven  house- 
holders were  made  at  that  time,  in  quantities,  ranging 
from  12  to  515  acres.  Without  incorporating  the  list  of 
names,  I  may  remark,  that  the  Ashleys,  Shepards,  Mauds- 
leys,  Bancrofts,  Fowlers,  Taylors,  Ingersolls,  Kelloggs, 
Sackets,  Nobles,  Roots,  Deweys,  Taylors  and  Phelps 
were  the  largest  grantees. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1733,  it  was  voted  to  divide 
certain  portions  of  the  inner  commons.  This  was  to  be 
done,  in  proportion  to  the  lists  of  the  estates  of  the 
different  proprietors.  The  number  of  persons,  to  whom 
the  lands  were  so  distributed,  was  one  hundred  and  six. 
At  the  same  time  a  distribution  of  small  tracts  of  land  of 
five,  ten,  fifteen  and  twenty  acres  was  made  to  twenty- 
three  persons,  by  way  of  charity.  The  names  of  all  these 
grantees,  the  lists  of  each  man's  estate,  which  gave  his 
proportion  to  the  land,  and  the  number  of  acres  granted 
in  the  outer  common  to  each  person,  will  be  an  interest- 
ing table  in  an  appendix,  as  an  historical  document. 

In  the  year  1724,  April  25,  Captain  John  Ashley  of 
Westfield,  in  consideration  of  his  bond  "of  £460,  three 
barrels  of  sider,  and  thirty  quarts  of  rum,"  procured  a 
deed  to  himself,  Colonel  John  Stoddard,  Captain  Henry 
Dwight,  and  Captain  Luke  Hitchcock,  a  committee  of 
the  General  Court,  of  land  on  the  Housatonic  River,  which 


,      MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  67 

comprises  the  present  towns  of  Sheffield,  Great  Barring- 
ton,  Egremont,  Alford,  Mount  Washington  and  Boston 
Corner.  The  deed  is  signed  and  sealed  by  twenty-one 
sachems, — Conkepot,  the  head,  or  perhaps  the  Lieutenant- 
General  Sachem,  the  man  whose  name  the  Konkapot 
Kiver  still  bears, — leading  the  signatures.  Some  of  the 
names  are  beautifully  euphonious ;  and  one  of  them,  we 
suspect,  from  his  name, — Worenocow, — must  have  been 
a  former  citizen,  perhaps  the  sachem  of  Woronoco. 

In  1735,  John  Ashley,  Esq.,  of  Westfield,  by  a  like  ap- 
pointment of  the  General  Court,  purchased  of  the  In- 
dians a  tract  of  land,  from  "Westfield  to  Housatonic,  now 
Sheffield.  It  was  a  strip  two  miles  in  width,  and  twenty- 
six  in  length  ;  and  there  was,  at  that  time,  but  one  house, 
west  of  the  village  in  which  we  now  live. 

OLD  FRENCH  WAR, 

This  town  was  not  backward  in  the  defense  of  the  coun- 
try, in  the  old  French  war,  and  in  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. It  sent  forth,  upon  each  occasion,  brave  officers 
and  soldiers,  some  of  whom  shed  their  blood  upon  the 
field,  and  others  of  them  returned  to  the  esteem  of  their 
fellow-citizens. 

Among  the  victims  of  the  French  war,  Dr.  Israel  Ash- 
ley, the  sou  of  one  of  the-  prominent  first  settlers  of  the 
town,  deserves  an  honorable  mention.  He  was  a  gradu- 
ate of  Yale  College  in  1731,  and  a  physician  of  great 
ability.  He  was  a 'surgeon  of  a  regiment,  and  died  at 
Stillwater,  N.  Y.  He  was  the  father  of  the  late  Dr.  Israel 
Ashley,  also  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  who  died  in  1814. 

Eager  Xoble  was  also  in  the  old  French  war,  enlisting 
at  a  very  early  age,  and,  at  its  close,  removing  to  the  foot 
of  the  mountain  in  West  Parish,  the  first,  and  for  many 
years,  a  solitary  but  a  laborious  tenant  of  the  wilderness. 

THE  REVOLUTION— GEN.  SHEPARD. 

Among  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  there  stands  out 
upon  the  canvas  that  honorable,  honored,  Christian  sol- 


68  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL.r 

dier,  General  William  Shepard.     He  was  the  son  of  Dea- 
con John  Shepard,  one  of  the  family  which  settled  in  the 
town  in  1700.     He  was  born  in  1737.     At  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen, he  enlisted  as  a  soldier ;  at  twenty  he  was  a  lieu- 
tenant in   the  army  of  General  Abercrombie  ;    and   at 
twenty-two,  he  was  one  of  the  captains  of  General  Am- 
herst.     During  his  six  years  of  service  in  that  war,  he 
fought  in  the  great  battles  of  the  contest;  and,  when  peace 
returned,  he  laid  down  his  armor,  and  resumed  the  imple- 
ments of  agriculture.     When  the  revolutionary  struggle 
broke  out,  he  at  once  repaired  to  Roxbury,  with  the  com- 
mission  of  lieutenant-colonel,    under  the  command   of 
Washington.     He  sustained  a  prominent  part  in  the  re- 
treat from  Long  Island,  and  was  wounded  in  the  action. 
In  1780,  with  the  commission  of  general,  he  was  attached 
to  the  army  of  La  Fayette,  and  remained  with  it  until 
the  close  of  the  war.     His  reputation  for  bravery  was 
established  in  twenty-two  battles,  and  his  sound  common- 
sense,  and  his  sympathy  for  suffering  were  displayed,  not 
only  fn   his  military  career,  in  the  revolutionary  army, 
and  at  the  head  of  the  forces  in  this  county,  in  the  Shays 
rebellion,  but,  during  the  course  of  a  long  and  useful  life. 
With  none    of  the   adventitious   aids  to    advancement, 
which  usually  raise  men  to  posts  of  dignity, — with  but  an 
imperfect  education  and  no  elocutionary  power, — yet  his 
strong,  active   appreciation  of  the  fitness  of  things,  his 
power  to — "hit  it  on  the  head  at  the  first  trial," — his  char- 
acter   for   bravery,    uprightness,  and   intelligence,  com- 
mended him  to  the  confidence  of  the  people ;  and,  as  a 
representative  of  the  town,  a  senator  of  the  county,  an 
executive  councilor  of  state,  a  member  of  Congress,  re- 
peatedly elected,  an  elector  of  president  of  the   United 
States  at  two  elections,  a  commissioner  of  this  state,  and 
also  of  the   United  States,  to  negotiate  with  the  Indian 
tribes  of  the  Penobscot,  and  "The  Six  Nations,"  he  ful- 
filled the  expectations  of  those,  who  honored  him  with 
their  confidence. 

One  remarkable  fact  in  the  life  of  General  Shepard,  was, 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  69 

that  he  lived  and  died  a  man  of  small  property.  Poverty  it- 
self is  not  a  proof  of  honesty,  of  industry,  or  of  a  deserving 
reputation,  but,  too  often,  of  the  want  of  them.  Of  him, 
however,  it  may  be  said,  he  was  a  hard-laboring,  industrious, 
frugal  man,  of  no  expensive  habits,  either  in  camp  or  in  his 
family ;  and  yet  he  was  possessed  only  of  a  moderate  com- 
petency. When  we  consider  how  long  he  was  in  the  camp 
of  Washington — his  companion  in  all  his  great  battles,  and 
one  of  the  commanders  under  Gates,  at  the  capture  of  Bur- 
goyne  ;  how  long  he  was  in  Congress,  and  in  the  commissions 
under  the  state,  and  the  United  States  government,  in  the 
negotiation  of  Indian  treaties ;  and  what  opportunities  he  was 
afforded  for  the  amassment  of  money,  which  opportunities  he 
spurned,  we  may  well  conclude,  that  the  town  of  Westfield 
furnished  one  general  officer,  whose  example  should  be  held 
up,  as  a  bright  example,  for  other  general  officers  to  follow. 

HIS  CONDUCT  IN  THE  SHAYS  REBELLION. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  of  Daniel  Shays  and 
his  fellow-conspirators  against  the  majesty  of  the  laws  of  his 
country,  Gen.  Shepard  was  again  called  from  his  retirement. 
It  was  a  fitting  place  for  a  man  of  his  bravery,  his  firmness, 
and  his  humanity.  How  beautifully  his  conduct  contrasted 
with  the  decision  and  energy  of  that  great  captain,  who,  at  a 
period  but  a  little  later,  was  upon  the  tide,  which,  taken  at 
the  flood,  soon  bore  him  on  to  universal  empire.  When  the 
mob  of  Paris,  in  their  want  and  famine,  cried  for  bread,  and 
took  up  arms  against  the  government,  the  cannon  of  Napo- 
leon thundered,  and  order  reigned  in  Paris.  Blood  flowed, 
power  was  felt,  and  submissive  suffering  waited  a  constrained 
period,  for  a  new  opportunity  of  redress. 

The  spirit  which  actuated  that  great  captain  was  policy, 
not  feeling !  It  was  a  conviction,  that  a  rebellion  was  to  be 
quelled  at  once,  by  force, — not  by  reason.  France,  at  that 
time  was  a  despotism  ;  and  in  a  despotism,  the  best  preventive 
of  anarchy,  is  force. 

But,  in  the  Shays  rebellion,  the  array  against  the  govern- 
ment, however  foolish  and  wicked,  was  prompted  by  real  suf- 


70  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

fering.  The  universal  people  sympathized  in  the  grief,  though 
they  abhorred  the  remedy.  Gen.  Shepard  well  knew  the 
feeling  of  the  people ;  he  knew  what  such  sufferings  meant, 
for  he  had  felt  them  in  his  own  person ;  he  knew  that  the 
rebels  had  fought  with  him  for  the  establishment  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  he  hoped,  by  moderation,  but  by  firmness, — the 
exhibition  of  force,  and  not  by  the  deathly  exercise  of  it, — to 
disperse  the  assailants. 

When  the  crisis  at  last  came,  and  it  was  necessary  for  law 
or  for  rebellion  to  triumph,  with  a  kindly  regard  for  the  lives 
of  the  assailants,  which  they  attributed  to  fear,  he  sent  to 
them  a  friendly  caution  ;  and,  when  they  still  pressed  on,  with 
their  outnumbering  squadrons,  even  then  he  delayed  the 
dreadful  catastrophe.  First  came 

"  Cannon  to  the  right  of  them  ! 
Cannon  to  the  left  of  them  !  " 

And  when  they  still  continued  in  their  obstinacy,  and  for- 
bearance ceased  to  be  compatible  with  humanity,  then 

"  Cannon  in  the  front  of  them 
Volley'd  and  thundered!" 

Happily,  his  compeers  in  arms — happily,  the  government, 
also,  tempered  their  course  with  mercy.  The  rebellion  was 
quelled,  and  the  great  mass  of  these  misguided  men  became 
quiet,  peaceable,  patriotic  citizens. 

The  records  of  the  town  do  not  afford  the  means  of  furnish- 
ing the  names  of  those,  who,  like  Gen.  Shepard,  went  forth  to 
war,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.  On  receiving  the 
news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  an  alarm  was  given,  and.  a 
company  of  70  men,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Warham 
Parks,  Lieut.  John  Shepard,  and  Richard  Falley,  repaired  to 
the  scene  of  action.  Mr.  Russell  Dewey,  better  known  by 
the  title  of  Adjutant  Dewey,  a  neighbor  of  Gen.  Shepard, 
was  in  the  army  during  the  war,  except  for  a  short  time  of 
sickness.  There  was  a  strong  friendship  between  the  two 
men,  who  lived  together  as  neighbors  to  a  ripe  old  age. 
Capt.  Parks,  was  afterwards  commissioned  Major  General, 
and  died  in  the  year  1800. 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  71 

Gen.  Shepard  died  at  the  age  of  80  years,  in  the  year  1817. 
A  large  concourse  of  people  attended  his  funeral.  A  sketch 
of  his  life  and  character  was  given  in  the  funeral  sermon  by 
Kev.  Isaac  Knapp,  and  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Davis,  in  his  historical 
sketch  of  the  town  of  Westfield.  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  and  a 
recent  writer  in  The  Times,  a  Westfield  newspaper,  have  de- 
lineated some  of  the  leading  incidents  of  his  life.  Upon  his 
retirement  from  the  army,  he  connected  himself  with  the 
church,  and  held  the  office  of  deacon  therein,  for  a  period  of 
twenty-eight  years. 

We  now  resume  our  notices  of  the  ecclesiastical  history  of 
the  town.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  At  water,  the  Rev.  Isaac 
Knapp  of  Norfolk,  Conn.,  a  graduate  of  Williams  College, 
of  1800,  who,  for  two  years,  in  1802,  and  1803,  was  a  tutor 
in  that  institution,  was  ordained,  as  a  pastor,  November  16, 
1803.  In  the  year  1835,  in  consequence  of  his  failing  health, 
the  Rev.  Emerson  Davis  was  ordained  as  his  colleague.  Mr. 
Knapp  died  at  the  age  of  73  years,  in  1847. 

The  administration  of  Mr.  Knapp  was  remarkably  quiet 
and  peaceful.  He  was  a  man  of  no  sharp  points,  either  of 
character  or  doctrine.  Never,  in  society,  or  from  the  pulpit, 
did  he  utter  anything  to  offend  the  feelings  of  his  people, 
or  to  array  the  slightest  element  of  opposition  to  himself. 
Unlike  most  clergymen,  he  extended  his  observations  from  the 
studies  of  his  profession,  to  the  world  around  him.  He  was 
a  shrewd  judge,  both  of  men  and  of  things.  He  knew  the 
wants  of  his  people ;  he  appreciated  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity ;  and  few  men  were  more  ready  to  afford  more  valu- 
able suggestions.  A  council  to  settle  a  difficulty,  between 
him  and  his  people,  was  un thought  of!  There  could  be  no 
difficulty ;  and,  if  a  difficulty  were  to  be  apprehended,  the  oil 
would  be  poured  upon  the  waters,  in  anticipation,  before  the 
slightest  breeze  stirred. 

Mr.  Davis  was  a  native  of  Ware.  He,  too,  was  a  gradu- 
ate of  Williams  College,  and  was  of  the  class  of  1821.  At 
his  graduation,  he  became  the  usher,  and  then  the  preceptor 
of  Westfield  Academy.  During  the  year  1828,  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  tutor  in  Williams  College ;  but,  in  1824,  he  be- 


72  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

came  the  permanent  preceptor,  where  he  remained,  until  his 
settlement,  in  1835,  as  the  colleague  of  Mr.  Knapp.  He  con- 
tinued to  officiate,  as  the  pastor,  until  his  sudden  decease,  June 
8,  I860,  from  a  disease  of  the  heart.  He  was  a  large,  strong 
man,  of  active  and  temperate  habits,  an  early  riser,  one  who 
spent  much  time  in  the  open  air,  and  who  traveled,  from  fam- 
ily to  family,  over  the  widely  extended  range  of  his  large 
congregation.  During  his  whole  residence  here,  Dr.  Davis 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  cause  of  education.  He  was  ap- 
pointed, at  its  organization,  as  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Board  ;  and,  until  his  death,  he  labored  for  the  interest  of  the 
cause,  as  though  he  had  still  continued  a  member.  He  was 
an  extensive  scholar.  He  had  a  habit  of  picking  up,  and 
recording  facts,  which  few  men  have  the  taste,  or  the  indus- 
try to  do;  and,  during  his  ministerial  labors,  his  sermon  was 
often  the  medium  of  exhibiting  philosophical  facts,  as  illus- 
trating biblical  and  evangelical  truth. 

Dr.  Davis  was  eminently  a  kindly  and  social  man.  He 
mingled  extensively  in  society,  was  well  acquainted,  not  only 
with  his  parishioners,  but  with  the  people  of  the  town.  He 
was  a  partaker  both  of  their  joys  and  sorrows,  and  was  al- 
ways ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  in  distress,  difficulty,  or 
danger.  He  was,  in  deed  and  in  name,  a  friend ;  and  when 
his  sudden  death  struck  upon  the  ear  of  the  people  of  the 
town,  each  one  felt  that  he  had  lost  a  friend.  A  large  con- 
course convened  at  his  funeral,  and  the  impressive  ceremonies 
of  such  a  solemnity,  were  deepened  by  the  regrets,  which 
seemed  to  hang,  like  a  pall,  upon  every  heart. 

The  successor  of  Dr.  Davis  was  the  Rev.  Elias  H.  Rich- 
ardson. He  was  installed  on  the  first  day  of  May,  A.  D. 
1867.  There  is  an  implied  contract  between  the  society  and 
the  pastor,  arising  from  an  immemorial  usage,  as  to  the  du- 
ration of  the  settlement,  which  is  considered  as  imperatively 
binding  upon  the  parties.  Since  the  settlement  of  the  first 
pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor,  every  one  of  all  the  successive 
pastors  have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  duties  of  the  office. 
Here  they  were  settled;  here  they  labored;  and  here  they 
rested  from  their  labors ;  nor  have  I  discovered  in  the  rec- 


ME.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  73 

ords,  except  in  the  nervous  higgling  of  Mr.  Bull,  in  relation 
to  his  salary,  a  trace  of  controversy  between  pastor  and 
people. 

Of  Dr.  Davis  it  is  worthy  of  record,  that,  in  more  than  one 
instance,  he  has  intimated  to  the  parish,  his  wish,  that  the 
amount  of  his  salary  should  be  reduced.  We  can  imagine 
cases,  where  exorbitant  contributions  embarrass  the  popular 
preachers  in  the  trouble  of  investments.  But  his  salary  was 
small.  His  hospitalities  were  abounding ;  and  though  his 
habits  of  life  were  frugal,  yet  his  taste  frequently  led  him 
into  somewhat  lavish  appropriations.  All  he  wished  his  peo- 
ple to  provide  for  him,  was  a  respectable  support;  and  any 
excess  of  such  necessity,  he  was  anxious  to  refund  to  them. 
No  wonder  that  such  a  pastor  was  beloved  by  his  people ! 
And  no  wonder  that  he  was  more  than  "  a  popular  preach- 
er,"— a  popular  man  ! 

In  the  year  1856,  the  large  number  of  members  of  the  so- 
ciety, and  the  comparatively  small  size  of  the  meeting-house, 
induced  the  majority  of  the  society  to  agree  to  colonize. 
Measures  were  accordingly  taken  to  form  a  second  Congrega- 
tional society,  and  church,  in  connection  with  it,  which  was 
an  offshoot  from  the  parent  stock.  For  a  time,  the  new  so- 
ciety worshiped  in,  what  is  now  called,  Music  Hall ;  but  the 
desire  of  possessing  a  permanent  and  exclusive  place  of  wor- 
ship, induced  them  to  erect  their  beautiful  church  edifice. 
Parochial  societies,  like  individuals,  or  like  other  corporations, 
are  stimulated  by  rivalry ;  and  the  parent  society  soon  found, 
that  a  meeting-house,  which  was  thought  by  some,  large 
enough  and  good  enough  for  the  whole  congregation,  was  too 
small,  and  too  poor  for  it,  after  the  exodus  of  the  colony.  Ac- 
cordingly, a  new  effort  was  put  forth ;  and,  side  by  side,  two 
large  and  commodious  church  edifices  arose,  differing  in  form, 
but  beautiful  in  their  adaptations,  an  honor  to  each  society, 
and  to  the  town  itself. 

The  Second  Congregational  society,  has  been  fruitful  in  the 
number  of  its  religious  teachers.  The  Rev.  Francis  Homes 

D 

was  obtained,  at  the  time  of  its  organization  in  May,  1856, 
and  continued  with  it  for  a  period  of  about  one  year.     The 
10 


74  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Rev.  Joel  H.  Bingham  was  its  first  pastor,  installed  in  June, 
1857 ;  and  after  a  period  of  six  years  he  was  dismissed,  and 
removed  to  East  Boston. 

The  Rev.  George  Bowler  succeeded  Mr.  Bingham,  as  the 
pastor.  He  had  been,  for  several  years,  a  clergyman  of  the 
Methodist  church;  but  he  was  examined,  and  accepted  the 
call  of  the  Second  Congregational  society,  and  was  settled  in 
April,  1863.  During  a  portion  of  the  war,  he  held  a  com- 
mission of  colonel  in  the  service;  and,  after  his  dismission,  in 
February,  1865,  he  removed  to  the  eastern  part  of  the  state, 
and  resumed  his  connection  with  the  Methodist  denomination, 
in  which  he  continued,  until  his  recent  decease. 

For  the  space  of  a  year  or  more,  the  society  was  without 
the  services  of  a  settled  pastor.  They  made  repeated  experi- 
ments, but  no  one  seemed  to  come  up  to  the  general  accepta- 
tion. At  last,  by  general  consent,  they  extended  a  call  to 
Rev.  Henry  Hopkins,  who  accepted  it,  was  ordained,  and 
from  June,  1866  until  the  present  time,  has  continued  to  be 
their  pastor. 

The  Baptist  society  was  organized,  and  a  church  formed 
as  early  as  1784.  They  had  two  church  buildings  ;  one  in  the 
north  part  of  the  town,  near  Montgomery,  and  one  near  the 
Little  River,  or  Fort  River,  as  it  is  sometimes  called  in  the 
records.  The  latter  building  was  sold,  and  a  commodious 
church  was  erected  on  Elm  street.  Recently  this  building, 
also,  has  been  sold,  and  a  spacious  and  beautiful  edifice  has 
been  erected  on  Elm  street,  at  a  cost  of  $32,000,  including 
the  site.  The  pastors  of  this  church  have  been  Revs.  Adam 
Hamilton,  Azariah  Hawks,  Caleb  Green,  David  Wright, 
Andrew  M.  Smith,  T.  Bestor,  A.  Colburn,  Charles  Van 
Loon,  William  Carpenter,  J.  R.  Baumis,  John  Jennings  and 
E.  Jerome,  the  present  pastor. 

The  Methodist  society,  consisted,  until  a  recent  period,  of 
but  few  members.  Their  numbers,  however,  have  rapidly 
increased.  The  church,  which  they  erected  on  Main  street, 
became  too  small  for  their  wants,  and  they  now  worship  in  a 
large  and  commodious  building  on  the  north-west  corner  of 
"  the  green."  Its  present  pastor  is  the  Rev.  John  H.  Mans- 


MR.   BATES    ADDRESS.  To 

field.     Recently  it  has  purchased  a  parsonage,  for  the  use  of 
its  pastor. 

There  is  also  a  small  society  of  the  order,  at  West 
Parish,  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  Samuel  McLaughlin.  They 
have  a  small,  but  commodious  church  and  parsonage,  and,  like 
the  central  society,  it  is  extending  its  numbers  and  usefulness. 

As  the  system  of  that  society  is  to  make  annual,  though, 
at  times  biennial  changes  of  their  pastors,  the  number  that 
have  officiated  in  the  Methodist  church  here,  is  somewhat 
numerous.  While  it  belonged  to  the  Granville  circuit, 
it  was  in  charge  of  Elder  G.  Roberts,  Joshua  Taylor  and 
T.  Dewey,  circuit  preachers.  It  was  then  located  at 
West  Parish,  or  Hoop-pole,  as  that  district  was  then  called. 
The  society  in  the  village  was  organized  in  1812,  and  the 
pastors  in  charge,  have  been  successively  Rev.  P.  Townsend, 
W.  Smith,  B.  McLouth,  J.  Hascall,  Mark  Trafton,  H.  V. 
Degen,  M.  Raymond,  G.  F.  'Cox,  J.  H.  Twombly,  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Butler,  Mark  Trafton  a  second  time,  Daniel  E.  Chapin, 
George  W.  Bowler,  H.  W.  Warren,  Daniel  Richards,  W. 
G.  Lewis  and  its  present  pastor. 

Like  the  First  Congregational  society  the  town  has  also 
been  shorn  of  its  original  proportions.  Samuel  Fowler,  who, 
with  his  brothers  John  and  Ambrose,  were  among  the  first 
settlers  of  the  town,  settled  in  the  south  part  of  it,  at  a  place 
then  called  Poverty.  The  plain  on  the  north  of  their  settle- 
ment, is  still  called  "  Poverty  Plain."  Benjamin  Loomis, 
and  Mr.  Olds  settled  in  the  westerly  part  of  the  town,  and 
families  of  the  name  of  Moore,  in  the  extreme  south  part, 
which  was  then  called  Moore-town.  In  1779,  the  south 
part  of  our  territory  was  incorporated  into  a  town,  by  the 
name  of  Southwick.  A  meeting-house  was  erected,  soon 
after  the  incorporation,  a  mile  south  of  the  village ;  and 
upon  its  being  burned  in  1823,  a  new  and  commodious  edi- 
fice was  erected,  in  1824.  The  Rev.  Abel  Forward  of  Sims- 
bury,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  in  1768,  was  ordained 
October  27,  1773,  and  died  in  1786.  He  was  the  father  of 
the  late  Joseph  Forward,  Esq.,  and  has  left  there  a  numerous 
posterity. 


76  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Montgomery  was,  also,  in  part,  constructed  from  the  orig- 
inal territory  of  Westfield.  It  was  taken  from  that  portion 
of  the  new  addition,  which  is  situated  on  the  north-easterly 
side  of  the  Westfield  River.  The  date  of  its  incorporation,  as 
a  town,  is  November  28, 1780.  A  church  was  organized,  Jan- 
uary 30, 1797,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev.  Seth  Noble, 
a  son  of  Thomas  Noble,  of  Westfield.  He  was  installed  No- 
vember 4, 1801,  and  dismissed  September  16, 1806.  He  was 
not  a  man  of  a  liberal  education,  but  was  a  man  of  talent.  It 
is  related  of  him,  that  he  was  residing  in  the  town,  which  is 
now  the  city  of  Bangor,  at  the  time  of  its  incorporatipn ;  and, 
at  the  request  of  his  parishioners,  he  went  to  Boston,  to  pro- 
cure the  act.  The  petitioners  desired,  that  the  name  of 
"  Sunfield  "  should  be  applied  to  it ;  but  the  reverend  gentle- 
man was  particularly  fond  of  the  old  tune,  "  Bangor ; "  and 
he  caused  Sunfield  to  be  struck  out  of  the  act,  and  Bangor 
inserted,  as  /  commemorating  two  objects  of  his  love, — his 
music,  and  his  devotion. 

Montgomery  is  situated  wholly  upon  the  mountain.  The 
land  is  rough  and  broken,  and  adapted  chiefly  to  the  pursuits 
of  agriculture.  Like  the  other  agricultural  towns,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, which  are  situated  at  a  distance  from  a  home 
market,'  its  population  is  gradually  decreasing.  Many  of  its 
inhabitants  have  emigrated  to  distant  states,  and  some  of 
them  are  now  residing  here. 

Russell  was  incorporated  February  25, 1792.  Its  territory 
consisted  of  that  part  of  the  "new  addition,"  of  the  town  of 
Westfield,  which  lies  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  Westfield 
River.  The  population  of  the  town  has  been,  also,  on  the 
decline.  But,  still,  its  water-power,  its  proximity  to  the  rail- 
road, and  the  abundance  of  its  wood  and  timber,  have  con- 
tributed to  increase  its  amount  of  property,  notwithstanding 
the  decrease  of  its  population. 

Nothing  more  highly  marks  the  high  state  of  moral  feeling, 
among  the  early  settlers  of  the  town,  than  the  provisions  that 
were  made  for  the  moral  and  religious  improvement  of  the 
people.  The  early  "calls"  that  were  made  to  the  clergy,  the 
immediate  supply  of  a  successor,  when  death  removed  an  in- 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  77 

cumbent,  and  the  liberal  salaries,  which  were  paid  to  them, 
in  those  days  of  labor,  privation  and  poverty,  were  in  the 
highest  degree  to  their  honor. 

The  public  school  was  maintained  by  annual  appropriations, 
for  all  the  children  of  the  town,  between  four  and  four- 
teen years.  It  was  kept  by  a  man,  except  that  liberty 
was  given  to  establish  a  school  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
town,  to  be  kept  by  a  female  teacher,  for  those  children,  whose 
immature  age  prevented  their  travel  to  the  town  school,  and 
a  sum  was  allowed  for  the  expenses.  The  salary  of  the 
teacher  varied  from  <£38  to  <£50  per  annum,  and  the  school 
was  kept  six  months  during  the  year,  the  instructor  being  usu- 
ally competent  to  instruct  in  the  dead  languages.  The  first 
school  in  the  town,  kept  by  a  female,  was  under  the  charge 
of  Widow  Catherine  Noble,  at  thirty-five  shillings  per  week. 
Mr.  Isaac  Phelps,  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  the  town,  and 
frequently  its  town  officer,  was  a  frequent  teacher  of  the 
school,  and  was  also  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bull. 

WESTFIELD  ACADEMY. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  the  attention  of  the 
people  was  directed  to  the  establishment  of  an  academical  in- 
stitution. With  a  commendable  promptness,  the  town  voted 
a  sum  of  <£600,  or  $2,000,  towards  its  endowment;  and  on 
the  17th  of  June,  1798,  an  act  was  passed,  incorporating  Gen. 
William  Shepard  and  others,  as  the  Trustees  of  Westfield 
Academy,  "to  be  and  continue  a  body  politic,  by  the  same 
name,  forever."  The  friends  of  the  new  institution  contem- 
plated, and  so  did  the  Legislature,  that  the  funds  were  to  be 
increased,  as  a  means  of  future  usefulness ;  for  the  act  pro- 
vided, that  the  trustees  might  hold  lands,  or  other  estate,  to 
such  an  amount,  that  the  annual  income  should  not  exceed 
$2,000. 

It  appears,  also,  by  the  records  of  the  trustees,  that  a  sum, 
exceeding  $1,000  was  also  subscribed,  and  secured  to  the  in- 
stitution, in  1797,  by  citizens  of  the  town.  In  response  to  a 
petition  of  the  trustees,  the  Legislature  granted  them  a  half 
township  of  land  in  Maine,  which  was  converted  into  the  funds. 


78  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

On  the  1st  day  of  January,  1800,  the  academy  building, 
erected  at  a  cost  of  $5,000,  was  dedicated  by  religious  observ- 
ances; a  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lathrop; 
an  address  was  delivered  by  the  Hon.  Samuel  Fowler;  and 
a  formal  presentation  of  the  key  of  the  building  was  made  by 
him  to  Mr.  Peter  Starr,  the  first  preceptor. 

It  would  be  a  pleasing  retrospect,  if  we  were  to  pass  over 
the  first  two-thirds  of  the  present  century,  and  record  the 
names  of  those,  at  whose  feet,  from  time  to  time,  we  have  sat 
for  guidance  and  instruction :  if  we  were  to  recall  those  early 
companions,  with  whom  we  strayed,  and  played,  and  perhaps 
toiled  along  the  paths  of  learning — companions  dear  to  us 
then, — of  whom  we  felt,  "very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  to  me, 
my  brother," — but  oh  how  doubly  dear  now,  as  one  by  one 
they  have  faded  from  our  sight,  leaving  us  more  and  more 
alone,  like  a  city,  which  sits  solitary,  and  yet  is  full  of  people 
— in  the  world  but  not  of  it,  among  men  yet  not  of  them,  and 
sighing  for  the  unselfish  friendship  of  those,  who  made  our 
young  hours  happy :  if  we  were  to  estimate  the  effect,  which 
the  establishment  of  the  institution  has  wrought  upon  the 
material  interests  of  the  town,  its  moral  influence  upon  the 
people,  and  the  heightened  tone  it  has  given  to  its  intelligence, 
and  its  virtue :  if  we  were  to  consider,  what  a  result  has  been 
produced  upon  the  world  at  large,  by  more  than  nine  thous- 
and people,  who  have  gone  out  from  it,  to  all  parts  of  the 
civilized  globe.  But  the  topic  is  too  vast  for  the  occasion. 
I  may  say,  however,  in  regard  to  it,  as  a  part  of  the  history 
of  the  town,  that  the  proximity  of  other  institutions,  endowed 
by  enlightened  liberality,  with  ample  funds,  enabling  them  to 
provide  more  numerous  teachers,  more  extensive  apparatus, 
and  more  commodious  boarding  accommodations,  inaugurated 
a  rivalry,  against  which,  this  almost  un-endowed  institution 
could  poorly  struggle.  The  buildings  and  grounds,  which  had 
come  down  to  us,  were  accordingly  sold.  The  estate  of  the 
academy  is  invested  for  increase,  until,  by  accumulation,  aug- 
mented, as  I  trust  it  will  be,  by  future  benefactions,  it  shall 
again  spring  forward  into  a  field  of  usefulness.  My  fellow- 
citizens,  I  say  now,  in  as  full  faith  as  I  said  to  you  on  the  31st 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  79 

day  of  July,  1857 — "Westfield  Academy  will  never  die! 
It  was  born  to  be  immortal !  It  was  incorporated  to  be,  and 
continue  a  body  politic  forever!"  and  if  this  generation  shall 
pass  away,  with  a  deluded  apathy  to  its  interests,  it  will  find, 
in  a  generation,  perhaps  now  unborn,  friends,  who  will  rally 
around  it,  with  the  zeal  of  its  first  founders,  and  rejoice  with 
exceedingly  great  joy,  in  its  returned  prosperity. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  enrolling  in  the  text,  the  munificence 
of  two  of  our  citizens  who  have  passed  away  from  us,  and 
who  have  left  names,  which  are  destined  to  live  in  succeeding 
generations. 

Samuel  Mather  was  born  in  Westfield.  He  was  the  son 
of  Capt.  John  Mather,  and  his  wife  Sophia,  a  descendant  of 
the  Rev.  Edward  Taylor.  His  father  was  the  son  of  Samuel 
Mather,  a  physician,  and  formerly  one  of  the  associate 
judges  of  the  old  local  Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

After  the  decease  of  his  parents,  he  removed  to  Hartford, 
and  resided  with  his  sister  Cynthia,  the  wife  of  the  Hon. 
John  B.  Eldredge.  He  had  been  a  hard-laboring,  thrifty 
farmer.  He  had  added  to  his  patrimony  by  his  own  accumu- 
lations, and  was  in  those  easy  circumstances,  where  he  was 
removed  from  the  necessity  of  laborious  exertion.  During 
his  early  life,  he  had  felt  the  want  of  a  good  library ;  and, 
with  a  taste  for  substantial  reading,  he  became  a  frequent 
visitor  to  that  noble  institution,  for  which  the  city  of  Hart- 
ford is  indebted  to  the  liberality  of  Wadsworth.  Although 
removed  from  the  town  of  Westfield,  his  heart  was  still  here  ! 
and  he  conceived  the  design  of  aiding  in  the  formation  of  a 
public  library  in  Westfield.  In  furtherance  of  his  suggestion, 
an  act  was  passed,  incorporating  "  the  Westfield  Athe- 
namm."  The  corporation  was  organized,  and  immediately 
he  paid  over  to  the  treasurer  thereof,  ten  government  bonds, 
of  one  thousand  dollars  each,  amounting  to  about  $11,000.  * 

Inspired  by  a  similar  feeling,  Hiram  Harrison,  also  a  native 
of  this  town,  determined  to  co-operate  with  Mr.  Mather,  in 
his  great  object.  He  too  had  been  brought  up,  with  but 
limited  advantages.  Notwithstanding  that  he  had,  by  his 
talent  for  business,  and  the  assiduous  application  of  all  his 


80  WESTF1ELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

energies  to  an  extensive  and  complicated  business,  accumu- 
lated more  than  a  sufficient  competence,  he  still  felt  the  want 
of  that  mental  culture,  which  is  necessary  to  form  the  char- 
acter of  a  complete  man  ;  and  he  determined  to  aid  in  the 
provision  for  the  education  of  the  people,  in  useful  science, 
and  elegant  literature.  For  this  purpose,  he  purchased  the 
land,  and  erected  the  building,  which  now  stands  on  the 
north-east  corner  of  the  public  square,  and  which  he  con- 
veyed by  deed  to  the  proprietors  of  the  Westfield  Athe- 
njeum  in  fee.  The  cost  of  the  land  and  building  was 
about  $11,000. 

The  intent  of  Mr.  Harrison  was  to  provide  a  place  for  the 
reception  of  books,  and  a  place,  also,  for  receiving  the  publi- 
cations, that  should  be  placed  therein.  It  was  the  design  of 
Mr.  Mather  to  ensure  the  keeping  that  place  open  for  read- 
ing and  the  use  of  books,  and  of  having  it,  on  each  day  in 
the  year,  warmed  and  lighted,  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
people.  Accordingly,  he  provided,  that  the  principal  sum  of 
$10,000,  should  be  left  entire  ;  and  the  interest  only  should 
be  devoted,  first  to  the  warming  and  lighting  of  the  rooms, 
and  for  the  salary  of  the  librarian;  and  then  any  remain- 
der might  be  appropriated  to  the  general  uses  of  the  institu- 
tion. 

The  people  of  the  town,  for  the  most  part,  showed,  by 
their  conduct,  their  appreciation  of  these  benefactions  for 
them,  and  their  posterity ;  and  a  subscription  was  made  up 
to  the  amount  of  $10,000  for  the  purchase  of  books,  maps, 
magazines,  and  the  periodicals  and  newspapers  of  the  day. 

Some  of  the  old  residents  of  the  town,  who  have  been 
prospered  in  their  own  places  of  residence,  at  a  distance  from 
their  old  home,  have  yet  remembered  the  embarrassments  of 
their  youth,  and  have  sent  back  their  benefactions  to  aid  the 
future  men  and  women  of  this  country,  in  their  pursuit  of 
learning.  The  names  of  the  donors  are  enrolled  in  the  rec- 
ords of  the  institution,  there  to  remain,  as  perpetual  memo- 
rials of  individual  enlightenment  and  individual  liberality. 

The  catalogue  of  our  benefactors  to  the  contributions  of 
science,  would  be  incomplete  without  the  addition  of  another 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  81 

name,  which,  also,  will  be  held  in  the  affectionate  remem- 
brance of  future  generations.  Mr.  Stephen  Harrison,  an 
elder  brother  of  Mr.  Hiram  Harrison,  was  born  and  bred  in 
the  town,  and  had  acquired  a  competency,  by  his  systematic 
agricultural  labor.  He  had  seen  the  advances  that  scientific 
experiment  had  given  to  manufacturing  industry ;  that  the 
elements  had  been  called  in,  as  the  substitutes  of  human 
strength  ;  and  as  he  contemplated  the  numerous  applications 
of  the  truths  of  science,  to  almost  every  object  around  him, 
and  reflected,  that  but  a  small  progress  had  been  made  in  that 
science,  which  is  the  art  of  all  arts,  he  felt  a  natural  desire, 
that  the  revelations  of  matured  learning,  should  be  infused 
into  common  knowledge,  and  that  mind  should  be  made  to 
direct  the  energies  of  those  operations,  which  are  to  feed  and 
clothe  the  world.  He  accordingly  bequeathed  the  sum  of 
$5,000  to  trustees,  as  a  fund  for  instruction  in  scientific  ag- 
riculture. The  income  was-  incorporated  with  the  funds  of 
the  academy,  in  carrying  out  the  design  of  the  enlightened 
testator  ;  and  an  arrangement  is  now  in  progress,  for  a  course 
of  scientific  study,  in  connection  with  the  academy,  and  the 
State  Normal  School.  All  honor  be  to  those  men,  whose 
enlightened  philosophy  appreciates  the  true  purposes  of 
wealth,  and  whose  benevolence  turns  away  from  the  absorb- 
ing cry  of  avarice,  to  the  higher  calls  of  Christian  duty. 

"The  evil  that  men  do,"  said  Shakspeare's  wily  orator, 
"  lives  after  them  !  The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones ! 
So  let  it  be  with  Caesar!"  So  let  it  not  be,  so  it  will  not  be,  so 
it  can  not  be,  with  the  deeds  of  Mather  and  the  Harrisons. 
So  it  can  not  be  with  those,  whose  beneficence  is  expended  in 
the  promotion  of  human  good.  Every  volume  carried  home 
from  the  alcove  to  the  fireside,  for  the  delights  of  learning ; 
every  half-hour  in  its  quiet  halls,  where  the  wise  of  all  ages 
speak  to  us  from  their  illuminated  pages  ;  every  annual  return 
for  the  increase  and  the  perpetuation  of  the  blessings,  which 
their  benevolence  originated,  will  be  each  their  reminder  and 
their  jubilee. 

11 


82  WESTFIELD    Bt-CENTENNIAL. 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL. 

The  interest  of  the  town,  in  the  cause  of  education,  was 
manifested,  at  a  recent  period,  in  the  establishment  of  the 
State  Normal  School  here.  When  the  present  system  of  ed- 
ucating the  teachers  of  youth,  for  the  business  of  their  pro- 
fession, was  at  first  inaugurated,  it  was  looked  upon,  by  many 
sensible  persons,  with  fear  and  distrust.  The  early  schools 
languished ;  and  such  was  the  indifference  to  its  welfare,  that 
it  became  necessary  to  remove  one  of  them  to  a  new  place, 
where  the  friends  of  education  were  more  decided  and  pro- 
nounced in  their  opinions*.  To  the  honor  of  this  town,  it  may 
be  said,  that  Westfield  never  doubted.  Experience  had  shown 
them  the  value  of  educated  labor;  and  they  believed,  that 
the  educators  of  mind  should  not  be  novices.  For  the  pur- 
poses of  its  reception  and  establishment  here,  they  made  lib- 
eral offers  and  appropriations.  The  Board  of  Education  ac- 
cepted the  propositions,  and  Westfield  became  the  seat  of  one 
of  the  state  institutions.  It  soon  became  necessary  to  erect 
a  building;  and,  acting  in  connection  with  the  center  school- 
district,  a  building  was  put  up,  large  enough  for  both  the 
normal  and  common  school.  Thp  former  soon  absorbed  the 
whole  building.  It  still  went  on  and  prospered ;  and,  at  last, 
an  addition,  equal  to  the  whole  original  structure,  was  made 
to  it.  And  now  a  new  feature  has  been  introduced.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  educate  teachers  in  all  the  branches  of  common,  and 
high  school  learning;  and,  for  that  purpose,  a  new  story,  cover- 
ing the  whole  building,  has  just  been  completed,  and  the  school 
has  now  commenced  under  new  auspices  of  extended  good. 


And  now,  as  we  approach  the  close  of  these  more  formal 
and  serious  ceremonials,  to  commence  upon  those  observances, 
where  are  to  mingle  "  the  flow  of  soul,  and  the  philosophy  of 
pleasure,"  let  me  press  upon  your  consideration,  the  impor- 
tant question, — what  is  to  be  the  future  of  this  town,  when 
one  and  two  centuries  shall  have  passed  away?  Is  it  destined 
to  fall  back  in  the  march  of  improvement,  and  to  be  out- 
stripped by  other  towns,  .whose  slow  advances  we  have  de- 


MR.  BATES'  ADDRESS.  83 

rided  ?  Is  it  to  linger,  listlessly,  along  the  by-ways  of  ease 
and  pleasure,  Contented  to  receive  what  chance  may  throw 
into  its  lap,  without  a  wish  to  extend  an  individual  effort  for 
the  public  weal?  Or,  are  we,  with  that  enlightened  fore- 
thought, which  comprehends  public  welfare,  public  honor, 
and  public  reputation,  as  an  index  of  private  advancement 
and  private  character,  and  with  a  concerted  determination  to 
enrich,  elevate  and  improve  it,  in  its  natural  and  moral  pros- 
perity, to  rush  forward  in  the  race  of  progress,  and  seize  upon 
the  victor's  garland? 

Let  us  never  forget  that  we  are  the  guardians  of  its  pres- 
ent, and  its  future  prosperity.  It  is  for  us  to  cast  its  horo- 
scope; and  coming  events  will  bring  it  forwara  to  that  ad- 
vance, where  we  cast  it.  Our  fathers,  surely,  provided  for 
us  a  goodly  heritage.  They  cast  our  lot  for  us  in  pleasant 
places,  on  the  swift,  gliding  streams  of  Woronoco. 

Here,  still,  are  the  broad '  meadows,  that  nature  fertilizes, 
with  her  more  than  annual  inundations.  Here  are  those  broad 
plains,  than  which  no  other  soil  produces  so  valuable  cereals. 
Here  are  the  forest-waving  mountains,  which  shelter  and  em- 
bosom this  most  beautiful  valley,  and  which  our  fathers  cov- 
eted for  building  purposes,  two  hundred  years  ago !  Here 
are  those  health-giving  streams,  which  still  afford  an  unlim- 
ited power  for  prosperous  industry.  Here  are  the  public 
schools,  that  stand  as  monuments  of  municipal  wisdom.  Here 
are  the  churches  of  all  denominations,  central  and  beautiful, 
with  pastors,  in  harmony  with  the  people,  and  in  concord  with 
each  other;  and  here,  amid  all  the  blessings  that  were  ever 
showered  down  upon  any  people,  we  may  enjoy,  to  the  ut- 
most fulness,  what  the  exiles  sought,  and  for  which  our  fath- 
ers fought, — "Freedom  to  worship  God!" 

NOTE. — In  the  preparation  of  the  address,  I  have  had  occasion  to  refer  fre- 
quently to  the  books  and  papers  in  the  archives  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  the 
department  under  the  charge  of  Hon.  Oliver  Warner,  the  Secretary  of  State. 
He  has  afforded  me  every  facility  of  access  to  them,  and  has  furnished  me  with 
copies  of  those  which  are  inserted  in  the  Appendix. 

I  should,  however,  have  been  embarrassed  in  researches,  without  the  aid  of 
that  diligent  antiquarian,  Mr.  Pulsifer.  His  thorough  explorations  and  his 
accurate  knowledge  have  brought  many  papers  to  light,  of  the  existence  of 
which  few,  if  any  persons  were  cognizant. 


The   Dinner. 


THE  Committee  on  Entertainment  had  secured  the 
mammoth  tent  of  Prince  &  Co.  of  Boston,  measuring 
200  feet  by  80,  for  use  on  the  occasion,  and  had  it 
pitched  in  Broad  street,  at  the  south  end  of  the  park. 
Tables  were  arranged,  and  plates  set  for  one  thou- 
sand persons  or  more,  and  each  plate  had  an  occupant. 
Messrs.  Fowler  &  Noble  cif  Westfield,  and  E.  C.  Barr 
&  Co.  of  Springfield  were  the  caterers.  The  flood 
had  very  seriously  interfered  with  their  arrangements, 
causing  vexatious  delay,  so  that  the  dinner  which  was 
to  have  been  served  at  one  o'clock,  did  not  come  off 
till  three,  and  some  articles  on  the  "bill  of  fare"  did 
not  come  to  hand  at  all.  Our  excellent  caterers, 
under  the  circumstances,  could  do  nothing  better 
than  throw  themselves  upon  the  patience  and  good 
nature  of  their  guests,  which  they  found  in  abund- 
ance, unquenched  by  the  flowing  waters.  One  could 
learn  from  them  what  strong  determination  and  per- 
sistent effort  can  accomplish  under  adverse  circum- 
stances. 

The  exercises  in  the  church  being  concluded,  the 
procession  re-formed  and  marched  around  the  park 
to  the  tent,  filling  up  the  ample  space  within  the  en- 
closure. The  tables  presented  a  very  neat  appear- 
ance. They  were  highly  decorated  with  flowers  from 
the  gardens  of  S.  Dow,  Esq.,  and  Mrs.  Judson  Rowe. 


86  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

and  if  all  the  articles  called  for  by  the  "  bill  of  fare" 
were  not  at  hand,  still  there  was  an  abundance  to 
satisfy  the  sharpened  appetites  of  the  vast  throng, 
and  to  spare.  Norman  T.  Leonard,  Esq.,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Mr.  Fowler,  presided.  A  blessing  was  in- 
voked by  the  Rev.  Edward  Jessup  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
a  native  of  the  town.  After  an  hour  of  successful 
onslaught,  a  fearful  scene  was  presented. 

The  dinner  ended,  the  true  symposium  com- 
menced. As  a  rule,  unstudied  after-dinner  speeches 
have  a  certain  mellowness  and  bonhomie  about  them, 
as  if  the  flavor  of  the  viands  already  was  incorpora- 
ted in  their  words,  and  those  of  to-day  were  not  ex- 
ceptions. 

Hon.  Thomas  Kneil  opened  the  ball  by  proposing 
as  the  first  toast : 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States." 

It  was  expected  that  Gilmore's  band  would  be 
present  and  play  "Hail  to  the  Chief,"  but  it  was  not 
able  to  reach  the  town.  The  Hon.  H.  L.  Dawes  was 
invited  to  be  present  and  respond  to  this  sentiment. 
The  following  dispatch,  which  wa«  read  at  the  table, 
explains  the  cause  of  his  absence : 

PITTSPIELD,  Oct.  6,  1869. 
Hon.  E.  B.  Gillett,  Westfield: 

The  floods  rage  between  me  and  thee,  and  I  am  disappointed. 

H.  L.  DAWES. 

The  second  regular  toast  was  then  announced : 
The  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth. 

To  which  Hon.  Horatio  G.  Knight  of  Easthampton, 
member  of  the  governor's  council,  ably  responded. 

He  regretted  that  neither  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  nor  His 
Honor  the  Lieutenant  Governor  were  present  to  make  a  fitting  response 
to  the  sentiment  that  had  just  been  offered.  The  former  was  not  ex- 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  87 

pected ;  the  latter  was  doubtless  detained  by  the  great  freshet,  which 
had  interrupted  the  lines  of  travel. 

While  sitting  in  the  church,  with  that  great  congregation,  composed 
mostly  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Westfield,  and  while  listening  to 
the  eloquent  and  instructive  addresses  there  made,  and  the  delightful 
music  there  performed,  he  almost  regretted  that  he  was  not  a  native  of 
the  town,  and  did  regret  that  he  had  never  been  a  member  of  Westfield 
Academy.  He  then  felt,  and  now,  at  that  table,  felt  almost  as  an  in- 
truder at  a  great  family  festival.  Living  so  near  to  Westfield,  in  an 
adjoining  county,  it  had  been  his  privilege  to  make  the  acquaintance  of 
many  of  her  prominent  citizens ;  but  he  had  known  little  concerning 
the  history  of  the  town.  He  had  many  reasons  for  respecting  the  town, 
and  feeling  a  lively  interest  in  its  prosperity.  All  he  had  heard  and 
seen  on  that  occasion  increased  that  respect  and  interest. 

Westfield,  with  its  churches,  its  schools,  its  manufactories,  and  its  pro- 
ductive farms,  has  occupied,  and  will  continue  to  hold  a  conspicuous 
place  in  this  noble  commonwealth.  Such  towns  make  the  state  a  noble 
one,  make  us  proud  of  it,  and  constrain  us  to  repeat  with  loving  hearts, 
"God  save  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts." 

He  thought  it  would  not  be  proper  for  him  to  occupy  more  time,  and 
concluded  his  remarks  by  thanking  the  committee  for  their  invitation  to 
attend  the  celebration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  incor- 
poration of  their  good  old  town,  and  expressing  the  earnest  hope  that  the 
future  history  of  Westfield  might  be  even  more  glorious  than  the 
past. 

The  third  regular  toast : 

The  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts — prosperous  within  her  own 
borders,  she  sends  forth  her  children  to  form  new  States  and  Territories, 
and  imbue  them  with  her  own  thrift  and  industry. 

Responded  to  by  the  Hon.  Charles  R.  Ladd  of 
Springfield,  formerly  a  member  of  Westfield  Acad- 
emy. Mr.  Ladd  said  : 

Mr.  Chairman :  The  day,  with  all  its  peculiar  duties  and  enjoy- 
ments,  belongs  of  right  to  the  citizens  of  your  beautiful  and  thriving 
town,  and  to  the  children  from  other  places — near  and  far  away — 
whom  they  have  invited  home.  You,  sir,  know  very  well  that  I  am 
not  one  of  the  family,  either  by  birth  or  adoption.  Consequently  I 
am  here  to-day  without  an  invitation,  and  only  as  a  spectator  of  these 
interesting  exercises.  I  hoped  to  meet  many  friends  who,  with  me, 


WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

were  members  of  the  old  Academy,  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  and  also 
to  see  the  estimable  and  honored  gentleman  who  was  then  its  popular 
principal,  and  who  is  now  doing  good  service  for  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion in  a  neighboring  State.  But  I  have  wandered  through  your 
streets,  seeking  familiar  faces  almost  in  vain,  and  have  experienced  that 
strange  sadness  which  sometimes  possesses  one,  when  he  feels  that  he 
is  alone  in  the  midst  of  a  multitude  of  people. 

Your  generous  hospitality  gave  me  a  place  at  these  well  filled  tables, 
and  I  can  do  no  less  than  to  express  my  heart-felt  thanks  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Westfield,  for  this  very  substantial  kindness,  and  to  ask  their 
indulgence  while  I  add  a  few  words  in  response  to  the  sentiment  last 
announced. 

My  honorable  friend,  (Mr.  Knight,)  who  has  just  spoken  so  elo- 
quently upon  the  same  topic,  has  left  me  but  little  to  say. 

Sir,  the  prosperity  of  Massachusetts  is  not  a  myth,  but  is  an  exist- 
ing, palpable  fact.  It  is  felt  and  known  on  every  hand,  and  almost 
throughout  the  world.  It  is  seen  in  the  crowded  streets  of  her  cities, 
and  in  the  rural  homes  that  dot  her  hill-sides  and  her  valleys,— on 
every  river  and  streamlet  that  can  turn  a  spindle,  and  her  numerous 
lines  of  railroad  that  bear  the  products  of  her  industry  to  business 
centers,  beyond  her  borders.  Though  her  commerce  languishes,  it  is 
not  dead ;  and  though  her  stubborn  soil  yields  but  a  moderate  reward 
for  the  labor  expended  upon  it,  it  adds  something  at  least  to  the  grand 
total  of  her  annually  increasing  wealth. 

Her  schools  and  colleges  and  other  institutions  of  learning,  were 
never  so  well  patronized,  or  so  efficiently  and  successfully  managed. 
Life  and  activity — a  cheerful  and  contented  spirit  prevails  everywhere  ; 
and  best  of  all,  intelligence,  Christian  morality  and  business  integrity, 
stand  prominently  forth  as  the  characteristics  of  her  people.  It  would 
be  pleasant  to  trace  these  results  back  to  their  causes,  but  time  and 
your  patience  would  fail  me.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  occasion  to  say 
that  they  had  their  origin  in  the  colonial  and  provincial  periods  of  her 
history,  and  that  the  church  and  the  common  school  system  are  entir 
tied  to  a  large  share  of  the  credit  of  making  Massachusetts  what  she 
has  been  in  the  past,  and  what  she  is  to-day. 

In  my  earlier  years  I  could  not  understand  why  she  was  called  a 
commonwealth — as  if  in  contradistinction  to  other  states  in  the  Union. 
Perhaps  the  prophetic  vision  of  the  fathers  saw  in  her  high  destiny, 
the  leader  in  all  benevolent  and  Christian  movements  for  the  benefit  of 
the  human  race,  and  the  bright  exemplar  for  the  guidance  of  the  na- 
tions in  the  organization  of  a  free  republic.  That  she  is  the  founder  of 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  89 

states,  is  sufficiently  exemplified  in  this  great  gathering  of  the  scattered 
children  of  a  single  town.  I  know  not  how  many  states  and  territories 
are  represented  here ;  but  statistics  abundantly  show  the  fact,  that  all 
over  the  land — in  the  deep  forests  of  Maine  and  the  everglades  of 
Florida,  on  the  prairies  of  Illinois  and  the  mountains  of  Montana,  on 
the  cotton  plantations  of  the  South  and  the  ranches  of  the  Pacific  coast 
— the  children  of  the  Old  Bay  State  are  found  by  scores  and  hundreds. 
And  wherever  they  go,  they  plant  the  civilization,  the  institutions,  and 
the  morals  of  the  commonwealth,  by  the  side  of  their  homes. 

In  this  fact  we  cherish  an  honest  pride,  and  upon  it,  the  patriot,  the 
philanthropist,  and  the  Christian  rests  his  strongest  hopes  for  the  future 
of  our  country. 

fourth  regular  toast: 

The  Founders  of  Westfield — They  selected  their  township  with  wis- 
dom; they  defended  it  with  bravery;  and  the  pleasant  scenes  in  which 
their  children  dwell,  are  the  monuments  of  their  enterprise  and  refine- 
ment. 

E.  V.  B.  Holcomb,  Esq.,  of  Chicopee,  Westfield- 
born  and  bred,  responded  as  follows: 

Mr.  President : — It  gives  us  sincere  pleasure  to  return  to  our  native 
town  to  participate  in  these  interesting,  instructive  and  pleasing  bi-cen- 
tennial  exercises  ;  to  return  to  our  native  town, — old  Westfield, — the 
home  of  our  youth  and  our  boyhood,  to  meet  here  so  many  returned 
sons  and  daughters,  friends  and  acquaintances  of  former  days ;  to  grasp 
the  friendly  hand,  and  again  look  into  these  faces,  after  years  of  sepa- 
ration ;  to  talk  over  old  times  and  sayings,  and  note  the  improvements 
of  her  enterprising  citizens  in  her  manufacturing,  her  mechanical,  her 
agricultural  and  educational  interests,  which  so  eminently  mark  her 
progress  and  give  her  distinction.  Our  different  callings  have  led 
us  in  various  directions  and  pursuits  of  life.  Engrossing  as  they  have 
been,  they  have  never  blotted  from  our  memory  the  home  of  our  nativity  ; 
neither  have  we  ceased  an  active  interest  in  her  prosperity,  her  growth, 
and  her  welfare.  We  have  seen,  with  great  satisfaction,  the  public 
spirit  of  her  citizens,  manifested  in  the  development  of  those  enterprisen, 
which  are  useful  to  mankind,  and  which  we  behold  in  the  many  neat  and 
comfortable  dwellings,  the  broad  and  well  kept  walks  and  streets,  stores, 
and  good  farms,  the  stately  churches  and  fine  school-houses,  which  so 
elegantly  adorn  and  beautify  our  good  old  home  ;  monuments  of  your 
liberality,  good  taste,  culture  and  refinement,  showing  that  the  stirring 
12 


90  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

people  of  the  town  have  nobly  carried  out  the  wisdom  and  policy  of  the 
founders  of  this  ancient  town  ;  and  the  bravery  of  her  many  sons,  who 
stood  for  the  defence  of  our  country  and  government,  immolating  their 
lives  for  freedom's  sake,  for  the  sake  of  the  Union,  and  the  right  in 
our  late  war,  show  that  able  and  brave  soldiers  were  reared  here,  and 
ready  to  emulate  the  spirit  of  their  fathers. 

We  are  happy  to  greet  so  many  aged  people  here  to-day,  the  fathers 
and  mothers  of  a  former  generation,  linking  the  present  with  the  past, 
recounting  to  us  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  town  ;  long  may  they 
live,  "  their  last  days  being  their  best  days." 

Many  who  started  in  life  with  us  are  not  here  to  day,  they  have  fallen 
by  the  way ;  they  are  missed,  but  not  forgotten.  This  memorable  bi- 
centennial day  we  welcome  as  one  of  the  happiest  days  of  our  lives  ; 
forever  will  it  be  fresh  in  our  memories ;  and  thankful  are  we  to  the 
wide  awake  people  of  old  Westfield,  for  inaugurating  and  executing, 
with  such  marked  success,  the  events  of  the  day.  Thanking  a  kind 
Providence  for  all  his  many  blessings,  and  permitting  so  many  to  meet 
and  participate  in  this  celebration,  we  close  by  offering  the  following 
sentiment : 

The  sons  who  have  gone  from  old  Westfield — Proud  of  the  town  and 
home  that  gave  them  birth,  of  its  agricultural,  manufacturing,  educa- 
tional and  mechanical  prosperity,  her  churches  and  school-houses,  her 
success  and  her  history  ;  may  they  never  do  anything  to  bring  dishonor 
on  her  fair  name. 

The  fifth  regular  toast: 

The  returned  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Westfield — We  welcome  back 
"the  old  familiar  faces."  Let  them  tarry  with  us  till  they  study  well 
the  lessons  of  their  childhood,  before  they  take  a  new  departure. 

Rev.  Dr.  S.  R.  Ely,  of  Roslyn,  Long  Island,  re- 
sponded, he  said: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — I  am  happy  to  meet  and 
greet  you  on  this  rare  and  interesting  occasion,  and  esteem  it  a  privilege 
to  express  (however  feebly)  the  feelings  and  emotions  which  are  awak- 
ened by  the  scene  before  me.  The  occasion  is  rare,  inasmuch  as  it  oc- 
curs but  once  in  a  hundred  years — it  is  our  first  and  last  gathering  of 
the  kind.  It  is  a  joyful  occasion,  because  it  is  a  return  to  the  place  of 
our  birth — to  the  home  of  our  childhood,  after  long  years  of  absence — 
a  coming  back  to  meet  the  few  who  began  life  with  us,  and  who  became 
the  more  dear  as  their  numbers  diminished. 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  91 

"0  home  of  my  boyhood,  my  dear  native  home, 
I  love  it  the  better  wherever  I  roam." 

This  is  a  beautiful  spot,  on  which  the  hand  of  God  has  been  most 
lavish  of  his  gifts.  To  the  west  rises  those  rock-ribbed  hills,  that  look 
to-day  just  as  they  looked  in  my  childhood,  queer  and  beautiful ;  stand- 
•  ing  just  where  they  stood  when  the  voice  of  God  spake  them  into  being 
To  the  north  stands  Mt.  Tom  and  his  little  brother  Holyoke  in  all  their 
grim,  sullen  grandeur,  like  two  old  sentinels  looking  forth  upon  the 
beautiful  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  From  the  east  we  catch  the  first 
beams  of  the  rising  sun,  and  from  the  south  comes  the  pure,  fresh 
breeze  from  the  ocean,  modified  a  little  by  its  passage  over  hills  and 
plains.  It  is  indeed  a  charming  spot— ever  dear  to  our  hearts — ever 
fresh  in  our  memories,  into  whatsoever  lands  we  may  have  wandered. 
There  is  a  single  thought,  to  which  I  trust  I  may  be  permitted  to  give 
utterance.  It  is  the  ministry  of  this  place.  The  town  was  organized 
two  hundred  years  ago  to-day.  The  first  church  organization  of  the 
place  was  ten  years  later,  and  the  first  clergyman  of  the  place,  regu- 
larly ordained  and  installed,  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor.  The  next  was 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Bull,  whose  successor  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Balantine,  and 
the  fourth  link  in  the  ministerial  chain  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Atwater,  the 
fifth  the  Rev.  Isaac  Knapp,  and  the  sixth  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Davis. 
Without  pausing  to  individualize  or  dwell  upon  the  gifts  and  excellencies 
of  these  devout  men,  it  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  know  that  they  all 
magnified  their  office.  They  have  all  finished  their  course  with  you — their 
graves  hallow  the  ground  where  slumbers  the  dust  of  your  fathers — 
not  one  was  allowed  to  suffer  from  penury,  or  forced  away  in  age.  This 
simple  fact  speaks  volumes  in  your  and  their  praise.  As  we  survey  the 
labors  of  these  sainted  men,  we  cannot  fail  of  discovering  the  mighty 
influence  which  they  exerted  over  the  minds  and  morals  of  our  fathers 
— over  all  that  pertained  to  their  welfare  in  the  life  that  now  is,  and 
that  which  is  to  come.  In  regard  to  the  other  churches  of  our  common 
Lord  and  Saviour  I  can  say  but  little,  from  the  simple  fact  that  they  have 
come  into  existence  since  I  have  left  this  place.  They  probably  had 
their  struggles,  trials  and  discouragements  in  their  infancy,  but  they 
have  now  attained  a  strong  and  noble  manhood,  and  as  members  of  the 
great  body  of  Christ,  are  exerting  an  influence  in  common  with  their 
sister  churches,  which  tells  not  only  upon  the  present  generation,  but 
which  will  tell  upon  generations  yet  to  come. 

And  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Westfield,  permit 
me  to  express  to  you  my  gratitude,  and  the  gratitude  of  all  your  guests 
to-day,  for  the  honor  you  have  done  us  on  this  occasion,  and  the  eloquent, 


92  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

cordial,  touching  welcome  with  which  we  have  been  received.  This  is 
the  last  gathering  of  the  kind  in  which  we  shall  ever  mingle — but  thanks 
to  our  Father,  there  is  another  gathering  in  which  we  and  the  great 
host  of  the  good  who  have  preceded  us  shall  meet ;  a  gathering  on  the 
fair  banks  of  the  River  of  Life,  where  we  shall  be  exempt  from  the  toils 
and  partings  incident  to  us  here ;  until  then,  honored  friends  and  kin- . 
dred  dear,  farewell ! 

George  Stowe,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  son  of  the  late 
Deacon  John  H.  Stowe  of  Westfield,  was  now  called 
upon  for  a  song.  Mounting  a  chair,  he  sang  "  The 
Home  of  my  Boyhood  "  with  a  vim  and  abandon,  that 
elicited  shouts  of  applause. 

Sixth  regular  toast : 

The  President  of  the  Day — Venerable  in  years,  ripe  in  virtue.  His 
path  like  that  of  the  just,  shining  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

The  infirm  health  of  Mr.  Fowler  had  compelled 
him  to  retire  before  this  sentiment  was  read,  and  the 
company  were  deprived  the  pleasure  of  hearing  his 
response. 

Seventh  regular  toast : 

The  Orator  of  the  Day — Distinguished  and  accomplished  in  his  pro- 
fession, beloved  and  respected  as  a  citizen,  he  honors  his  native  town 
by  his  able  and  interesting  address  on  this  occasion. 

Mr.  Bates  said  in  reply,  substantially  as  follows  : 

There  are  some  people,  Mr.  Chairman,  who  pretend  to  contemn  the 
opinion  of  the  world.  They  affect  to  consider,  that  all  their  conduct  pro- 
ceeds from  the  best  of  motives  ;  and,  that  what  they  do,  is  done  in  the 
best  way  ;  so  that,  if  the  world  censure  them,  the  world  is  mistaken, 
and  they  are  sorry,  not  for  themselves,  but  for  the  errors  of  the  world. 
There  is  another  class,  who  pretend,  that  they  are  of  independent 
thought,  uninfluenced  by,  and  regardless  of  the  conduct,  or  the  estimate 
of  others ;  and,  generally,  such  persons  are  of  such  character,  that,  as 
between  them  and  the  world,  there  is  no  love  lost.  I  belong,  Sir,  to 
neither  of  these  classes.  I  do  value  the  opinion  of  my  fellow-men, 
and,  especially  of  my  townsmen, — of  those,  who  have  lived  with  me, 
in  the  town,  where  they  and  I  were  born  and  bred ;  and,  therefore,  I 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  93 

value  the  sentiment,  which  has  been  given,  and  I  feel  grateful  for  the 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  received. 

I  do  not  consider  it  as  a  mere  formal  compliment.  I  know  that 
this  assemblage  appreciates  the  effort,  which  has  been  made  to  group 
together  the  memorials  of  our  forefathers,  the  early  and  brave  settlers 
of  this  town ;  and  they  are  glad,  that  even  so  much  has  been  done,  as 
I  have  been  enabled  to  do  ;  and  my  regret  is,  and  it  is  a  sincere  one, 
that  I  have  not  been  able  to  accomplish  more,  to  spread  before  you  a 
record,  more  worthy  of  them,  and  of  the  occasion. 

And  here,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  stop.  I  see  your  chairman  thinks  so. 
I  read,  what  he  would  say,  in  his  eye,  and  his  face.  He  is  saying  to 
me,  in  his  silence,  which,  it  is  said,  is  often  the  most  expressive  elo- 
quence, "  You  have  been  honored  with  an  appointment  of  your  towns- 
men, to  deliver  an  historical  address.  You  have  delivered  it !  For 
more  than  a  mortal  hour,  have  you  kept  a  large  audience  in  the  church, 
obliged  to  listen  to  your  lucubrations.  They  could  not  go  out,  without 
disturbing  the  order  of  the  proceedings,  and  endangering  their  dinner, 
and  therefore  they  stayed,  in  constrained  patience.  You  were  assigned 
an  honored  seat  on  the  dais,  next  to  the  chairman.  You  have  received 
the  usual  complimentary  toast  to  '  the  orator  of  the  day ;'  and  the 
company  have,  good-naturedly,  made  a  show  of  approbation.  And 
yet,  after  all  this  has  been  done,  you  get  up,  like  a  clergyman,  who 
preaches  all  the  afternoon,  to  tell  his  hearers  what  he  said  in  the  fore- 
noon, to  say,  what  you  ought  to  have  said,  or  to  repeat  what  you  have 
said  already."  I  do  confess,  that  I  do  not  see  how  I  can  stand  up 
under  these  heavy  objurgations.  I  feel  that  I  must  yield  to  them,  and 
especially  so,  when  I  see  around  me  so  many  distinguished  persons, 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  whom  we  all  would  be  glad  to  hear. 
But  I  cannot  sit  down,  my  friends,  without  assuring  you,  that  the. 
words  of  welcome  that  our  lips  have  uttered,  our  hearts  feel !  You 
have  wandered  away  from  the  Woronoco,  over  many  higher  and 
loftier  mountains,  over  many  broader  and  deeper  rivers,  than  those 
which  glide,  and,  at  times,  rush  through  the  valley,  which  our  moun- 
tains encircle.  And  some  of  you  have  passed  over  to  the  Western 
shores  of  this  broad  continent.  But,  we  are  glad  to  see  you  back 
again,  upon  the  hearth-stone  of  our  race.  We  are  rejoiced  to  have 
you  see  us  ;  to  have  you  see  what  we  have  done,  and  what  we  are  now 
doing.  And,  when  you  leave  us,  as  you  will  too  soon  do,  for  the 
happy  homes  where  you  now  dwell,  we  would  have  you  carry  with 
you  the  abiding  conviction,  that  the  fires,  which  our  fathers  lighted 
here,  in  a  wilderness,  shall  be  kept  by  us,  ever  brightly  burning. 


94  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Eighth  regular  toast : 

Russell — The  youngest  child  of  Westfield — bora  when  its  mother 
was  123  years  old;  and  in  llussell  was  begotten  Reuben  whose  sur- 
name is  Chapman.  By  this  birth  Russell  became  the  mother,  and 
Westfield  the  grandmother  of  the  judiciary  of  the  commonwealth. 

Official  duties  prevented  the  attendance  of  the 
chief  justice.  We  publish  a  letter  from  him  in  the 
appendix. 

Ninth  regular  toast : 

Southwick — The  eldest  child  of  Westfield — born  when  its  parent 
was  a  hundred  years  old,  but  not  weaned  till  a  lusty  youngster  of  ten. 

To  which  Mr.  S.  S.  Fowler  of  Southwick  replied 
briefly. 

Tenth  regular  toast: 

Montgomery — Our  second  child.  Like  a  bold  eaglet  she  looks  down 
from  her  mountain  perch  upon  the  parent  nest. 

Eleventh  regular  toast: 

The  Fathers  of  Westfield — Distinguished  for  their  strong  common 
sense,  their  unswerving  integrity,  their  love  of  simple  customs,  and  for 
their  success  in  every  worthy  undertaking. 

Rev.  Ambrose  Day  responded  substantially  as  fol- 
lows: 

I  had  thought  the  arrangements  made  for  this  occasion,  were  gener- 
ally pretty  judicious,  but  I  come  now,  where  the  wisdom  of  the  pro- 
gramme is  not  so  apparent.  The  old  men  of  the  town  are  not  here,  and 
if  they  were,  I  might  not  be  their  representative.  ,< 

But,  sir,  of  the  old  men  of  the  town, — where  are  they  ?  I  look  in 
vain  for  them  here  to-day,  and  with  solitary  exceptions  they  are  gone — 
gone  to  be  with  us  here  no  more.  They  have  taken  their  departure  to 
another  land,  some  of  them  so  recently  that  their  presence  had  been 
anticipated  at  this  gathering,  and  we  feel  a  sort  of  disappointment  at 
not  seeing  their  faces  among  us.  In  contemplating  the  fathers  of  the 
town,  we  are  forcibly  reminded  of  the  anecdote  of  the  little  maid,  who 
when  inquired  of,  how  many  children  there  were  belonging  to  the  fam- 
ily, replied  "Seven."  When  asked  where  they  were,  she  answered 
by  giving  the  locality  of  five  of  them,  and  added,  "and  two  are  dead." 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  95 

When  it  was  objectingly  asked,  "Then  there  are  but  five  of  you,  are 
there?  "  she  still  insisted,  "  Yes,  we  are  seven."  So  we  too  must  make 
the  same  claim,  yes,  we  are  seven. 

With  this  definition  of  the  "  old  men  of  the  town,"  we  say  they 
were,  as  a  class,  a  worthy  set  of  men.  They  had  not  all  the  advan- 
tages we  enjoy.  They  could  not  have  come  their  hundred  miles  this 
morning,  and  been  present  at  this  festival,  but  they  were  men  of  sound 
common  sense.  Social  and  kindly  in  their  intercourse,  sober,  industri- 
ous and  frugal  in  their  habits.  Young  America  was  not  at  a  premium 
with  them.  Indeed  he  was  not  then  grown.  If  born,  he  had  not  at- 
tained the  proportions  he  has  since  assumed.  Having  but  lately  ac- 
quired deliverance  from  a  foreign  dominion,  they  had  found  themselves 
in  a  kind  of  social  and  political  chaos,  and  they  felt  themselves  en- 
gaged in  rearing  a  superstructure  for  themselves  and  their  posterity. 
That  superstructure  we  have  to-day,  in  the  institutions  they  established, 
and  in  the  character,  intelligence  and  enterprise  of  their  descendants 
here  assembled,  or  wherever  they  are  scattered  over  the  lands.  The 
schools  they  planted,  and  other  institutions  they  organized,  are  yielding 
to  us  an  exuberant  harvest  of  social,  civil  and  religious  blessings. 
Their  names  and  their  doings  are  to  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 
I  will  only  add,  honor  to  their  memory,  and  peace  to  their  ashes. 

Twelfth  regular  toast: 

The  Women  of  Westfield — Wives  and  Mothers,  nowhere  truer. 
They  have  been  rendered  illustrious  by  the  character  of  their  sons  and 
daughters ;  Maidens  nowhere  lovelier. 

This  was  responded  to  by  Rev.  E.  H.  Richardson. 
He  said  : 

I  think  the  sentiment  eminently  just,  except  that  its  different 
parts  were  a  little  too  much  restricted  in  their  application  ;  for,  in 
the  first  place,  what  is  declared  of  the  wives  and  mothers  is  equally 
true  of  the  daughters  and  the  maidens ;  and  what  is  declared  of  the 
maidens,  is  true  also  of  the  wives  and  mothers.  They  are  all  alike 
true,  yet  no  more  true,  than  lovely.  Go  where  you  will — the  wide 
world  over — and  more  of  all  that,  which  serves  to  render  the  female 
presence  a  charm  and  a  sanctification,  you  will  not  find.  Now  we 
feel  this  to-day.  These  wives,  mothers  and  daughters  are  not  only  the 
embellishment,  but  the  inspiration  of  the  occasion.  These  decora- 
tions, by  which  the  church  was"  so  beautifully  adorned,  were  the  thoughts 
of  their  'mind,  and  the  work  of  their  fingers.  The  songs  of  the  day 


96  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

have  thrilled  us  more  deeply,  have  inspired  us  with  better  sen- 
timents, than  perhaps  any  words,  which  for  months  have  been  addressed 
to  us.  How  much  of  the  material  of  the  excellent  commemorative  ad- 
dress of  the  day  owed  its  existence  to  what  the  women  of  Westfield 
have  done ;  and  those  warm  words  of  welcome,  could  a  higher  praise  of 
them  be  spoken,  than  that  they  expressed  the  heart  of  the  whole  assem- 
bly— of  the  mothers,  wives  and  daughters  of  Westfield.  I  can  not 
pass  by  the  hymns,  or  poems  that  were  read.  Why,  just  look  back 
over  the  day, — so  much  of  it  as  has  passed, — and  take  away  from  its 
pleasures  and  improvement  that  part,  contributed  by  the  female  mind 
and  heart,  and  what  would  remain  ?  The  effect  wrought  upon  the  fes- 
tivities of  the  day  by  this  bi-centennial  flood,  would  be  as  nothing  to 
such  a  depletion.  Of  the  congregation?,  which  assemble  upon  the  Sab- 
bath in  this  town,  I  think  three-fourths  of  each  are  composed  of  women. 
Without  them  the  social  meetings  in  these  churches  would  be  a  farce. 
Two-thirds  of  the  membership  of  these  churches  is  composed  of  women. 
Three-fourths  of  our  Sabbath  School  teachers  are  women.  Of  all  the 
reforms  of  the  day,  what  the  women  contribute  is  the  main  element. 
Of  the  positive  forces  of  the  day  and  the  hour,  they  are  the  greater 
part. 

And  what  the  women  of  Westfield  are  to-day,  have  we  a  doubt  but 
that  they  have  always  been  ?  In  looking  over  the  ancient  records, 
we  do  not  indeed  find  written  the  names  of  women.  Not  a  speech  or 
address  from  a  Westfield  woman  is  there  in  print.  I  do  not  think  that 
either  from  pulpit  or  rostrum  by  a  Westfield  woman,  an  oration  or  ad- 
dress was  ever  delivered.  From  the  very  tombstone  of  many  a  one 
of  them,  the  very  name  has  been  obliterated.  Yet  have  not  the 
mothers  of  this  town,  though  not  by  speech,  expressed  themselves  ?  And 
as  regards  monumental  commemoration,  unto  whom  has  been  erected  that, 
which  is  more  enduring,  or  more  to  honor  ?  The  women  of  Westfield 
have  been  the  wives  and  mothers  of  the  men  of  Westfield.  All  of  history 
is  of  them.  To  review  the  past,  to  review  all  that  ennobles,  and  blesses 
the  present,  is  to  review  them.  Have  we  not  the  pledge  that,  what 
the  mothers  have  been,  the  daughters  are  now?  Young  men — you 
who  are  here  to-day,  not  with  a  mother,  not  with  a  sister  leaning  upon 
your  arm — a  word  to  you.  Learn  to  estimate  the  treasure  that  you 
have.  God  made  woman  to  be  beautiful,  to  clothe  herself  in  garments 
of  beauty.  He  made  her  also  to  beautify.  A  beautiful  maiden  is  the 
most  beautiful  object  that  an  angel  ever  thought,  or  that  God  ever  made 
— I  believe — and  yet,  to  say  of  any  true  woman  that  she  is  beautiful, 
is  saying  too  little.  Young  man,  the  resemblance  of  her  ancestors,  of 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  97 

her  mother  is  upon  that  maiden,  and  there  is  beauty  in  her,  as  well  as 
upon  her.  There  is  determination  in  her,  fortitude,  patience,  helpfulness, 
womanly  devotion,  piety,  love,  trust.  Believe  it  of  her ;  confide  in 
her;  be  worthy  of  her.  Let  the  men  of  Westfield  be  worthy  of  the 
women  of  Westfield,  and  the  honor  of  our  future  is  secure. 

Thirteenth  regular  toast : 

The  colors  of  the  10th  Regiment — Their  tattered  folds  recall  the 
days,  when  "  stormed  at,  with  shot  and  shell,  they  led  the  columns  of 
the  gallant  10th  to  victory." 

Capt.  P.  Solomon  of  Westfield  replied.     He  said : 

I  had  not  the  honor  of  following  through  the  many  hard-fought  bat- 
tles, the  flags  you  have  just  toasted.  My  lot  was  in  other  fields  sustain- 
ing its  counterpart.  The  loyal  soldier  of  our  late  war  loses  none  of 
his  enthusiasm  in  responding  for  the  "Stars  and  Stripes."  They  are  all 
alike  to  him — have  the  same  meaning — no  matter  to  which  of  our  brave 
regiments  they  were  entrusted.  I  regret  my  inability  to  follow  in  de- 
tail the  history,  and  awaken  reminiscences  of  the  perils  and  struggles, 
through  which  your  brave  sons  carried  this  tattered  banner,  in  the  se- 
verest conflicts  against  disunion,  and  how,  when  peace  crowned  the  ef- 
forts of  patriotism,  they  brought  it  back  in  victory,  more  beautiful 
though  torn,  than  when  sound  in  all  its  parts.  Then  its  destiny  hung 
in  the  balance  :  now  it  is  assured  !  It  is  to  us  a  pleasant  coincidence, 
that  the  same  strong  arm  and  stout  heart  that  bore  it  in  the  fiercest  din 
of  battle  without  a  fear  or  a  waver,  through  every  struggle  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  from  Fair  Oaks  to  Petersburg,  is  with  us  to-day,  and 
carried  "  the  dear  old  flag  "  in  the  procession  this  morning.  As  color 
sergeant  he  held  it  up  in  bold  defiance  when  comrades  fell  around  it, 
and  every  corporal  of  his  guard  fell  a  victim  to  the  rebel  fire.  Adam 
Swan  of  "Company  K"  must  be  forever  remembered  and  associated 
with  the  flag  you  honor  to-day. 

No  wonder  that  Westfield  looks  back  with  pride  upon  the  past,  and 
rejoices  in  the  fullness  of  her  heart,  that  the  trusts  confided  to  her  by 
the  commonwealth  (always  first  in  war  for  liberty  and  equality)  were 
not  misplaced.  How  inspiring  to  the  soldier  is  your  sentiment,  loyal, 
patriotic  and  fresh  as  in  the  dark  days  of  our  country,  when  friends 
were  plenty,  but  not  too  numerous ;  and  now,  when  the  good  work  has 
been  done,  neither  the  peril  nor  the  dear  old  flag  is  forgotten.  Are 
Republics  ungrateful  when  such  people  are  at  the  foundation  of  our 
government?  Emulating  the  noble  principles  which  gave  our  flag  its 
13 


98  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

birth,  deeming  no  sacrifice  too  great  for  its  maintenance,  we  will  march 
in  the  van  of  civilization,  holding  it  aloft,  as  a  glorious  beacon  of  hope, 
to  which  all  may  steer;  and  under  its  folds  securely  anchor.  And  as 
surely  as  wo  follow  in  motive  and  deed,  the  lofty  examples  taught  by 
the  ancestry  of  American  liberty,  so  certainly  will  our  children  follow 
us;  generation  will  follow  generation,  each  vieing  with  the  other,  to  be- 
queath its  share  and  interest  of  its  own  priceless  inheritance. 

Fourteenth  regular  toast : 

The  Westfield  Atheneum — The  memories  of  Samuel  Mather  and 
Hiram  Harrison.  The  Atheneum  is  their  monument  May  it  be  im- 
perishable. 

Mr.  Eldredge  of  Hartford  replied,  handsomely  re- 
ferring to  the  lives  and  characters  of  Messrs.  Mather 
and  Harrison  as  signal  instances  of  what  may  be  ac- 
complished by  faithfulness,  perseverance  and  purity 
of  life,  and  recommended  with  earnestness  that  the 
young  men  of  Westfield  strive  to  imitate  their  vir- 
tues and  good  qualities. 

Fifteenth  regular  toast : 

Our  brave  Soldiers — For  the  dead — our  tears.  For  the  living — our 
prayers.  To  all — our  gratitude. 

Mr.  E.  B.  Smith  was  called  upon  to  respond  which 
he  did  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  brave  men  com- 
memorated. 

Sixteenth  regular  toast : 

Our  Public  Schools — The  fathers  founded  and  fostered  them.  We 
hold  them  in  trust,  a  precious  memorial  of  wisdom  of  the  past,  and 
blessed  pledge  of  the  stability  and  progress  of  the  future. 

Replied  to  by  Rev.  H.  Hopkins,  substantially  as 
follows : 

Mr.  President — Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  The  declining  sun  and 
this  dissolving  audience  forbid  that  I  should  respond  as  fully  as  I  had 
intended  to  the  sentiment  just  read ;  but  it  would  be  inexcusable,  if  on 
this  occasion  no  distinct  historical  reference  were  made  to  the  connec- 
tion of  our  system  of  public  education  with  the  men  of  two  hundred 


PROCEEDINGS    AT   TABLE.  99 

years  ago.  The  inhabitants  of  this  place  at  that  time, — some-of  whose 
names  have  been  spoken  to-day,  formed  a  part,  and  were  a  sample  of 
the  old  puritan  colonial  commonwealth.  I  may  be  permitted  then,  sim- 
ply to  read  two  or  three  extracts  from  the  early  colonial  records,  which 
reflect  the  brightest  lustre  upon  the  fathers.  As  illustrating  their  spirit, 
take  this  prayer,  uttered  before  the  civil  court  of  Massachusetts  in  1645, 
by  John  Eliot,  the  apostle  to  the  Indians  :  "  Lord  !  for  schools  every- 
where among  us !  that  our  schools  may  flourish !  that  every  member 
of  this  assembly  may  go  home  and  procure  a  good  school  to  be  encour- 
aged in  the  town  where  he  lives  !  that  before  we  die  we  may  be  so 
happy  as  to  see  a  good  school  encouraged  in  every  plantation  in  the 
country."  I  should  like  to  further  illustrate  this  point,  but  forbear. 
As  early  as  1635,  free  schools  were  commenced  in  Boston,  and  in  the 
year  1647,  the  General  Court  passed  the  following  memorable  order, 
for  the  promotion  of  common  education  :  "It  is,  therefore,  ordered  by 
this  courte  and  authority  thereof,  that  every  towneshipp  within  this  ju- 
risdiction, after  that  the  Lord  hath  increased  them  to  the  number  of 
fifty  howsholders,  shall  then  forthwith  appointe  one  within  theire  towne, 
to  teach  all  such  children  as  shall  resortes  to  him,  to  write  and  read, 
whose  wages  shall  be  paid  either  by  the  parents  or  mothers  of  such 
children,  or  by  the  inhabitants  in  general,  by  way  of  supplye,  as  the 
major  porte  of  those  who  order  the  prudentials  of  the  towne  shall  ap- 
pointe. And  be  it  further  ordered,  that  when  any  towne  shall  in- 
crease to  the  number  of  one  hundred  families  or  howsholders,  they 
shall  setLup  a  grammar  school,  the  mothers  thereof  being  able  to  in- 
struct youths  so  far  as  they  may  bee  fitted  for  the  university."  It  was 
thus  that  our  fathers  founded  our  public  schools. 

Cotton  Mather  says  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  which  they 
founded  in  1636,  when  there  were  only  five  thousand  families  of  them, 
that  it  was  "  the  best  thing  they  ever  thought  of."  But  in  the  light  of 
the  developing  history  of  the  country,  the  most  discerning  minds  of 
our  time  declare  the  best  thing  they  ever  thought  of  was  the  common 
school  system. 

Mr.  Horace  Mann,  in  one  of  his  reports  to  the  board  of  education, 
after  describing  the  scattered,  enfeebled,  endangered  and  suffering  con- 
dition of  the  colonists,  says :  "It  was  then,  and  amid  all  these  priva- 
tions and  dangers,  that  the  pilgrim  fathers  conceived  the  magnificent 
idea  of  a  free  and  universal  education  for  the  people.  As  an  innova- 
tion upon  all  pre-existing  policy  and  usages,  the  establishment  of  free 
schools  was  the  boldest  ever  promulgated  since  the  commencement  of 
the  Christian  era." 


100  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Mr.  Bancroft  writes,  "In  these  measures,  especially  in  the  laws  es- 
tablishing common  schools,  lies  the  secret  of  the  success  and  character 
of  New  England.  Every  child,  as  it  was  born  into  the  world,  was  lifted 
from  the  earth  by  the  genius  of  the  country,  and  in  the  statutes  of  the 
land,  received  as  its  birthright,  a  pledge  of  the  public  care  for  its  mor- 
als and  its  mind;"  and  Judge  Story  says,  "The  truest  glory  of  our 
forefathers  is  in  that  system  of  public  instruction,  which  they  instituted 
by  law,  and  to  which  New  England  owes  more  of  its  character,  its  dis- 
tinction and  its  prosperity,  than  to  all  other  causes.  If  this  system  be 
not  altogether  without  example  in  the  history  of  other  nations  (as  I 
suspect  it  to  be  in  its  structure  and  extent),  it  is,  considering  the  age 
and  means  of  the  projectors,  an  extraordinary  instance  of  wise  legisla- 
tion, and  worthy  of  the  most  profound  statesmen  of  any  time.  At  the 
distance  of  centuries  it  stands  alone  and  unrivalled."  Such  are,  in 
brief,  the  facts,  and  such  are  the  testimonies  concerning  them.  Let  me 
remark  in  passing,  as  a  matter  of  the  highest  significance,  that  the  free 
school  system  of  our  country  owes  its  origin,  not  to  political  philosophers, 
or  to  mere  philanthropists,  but  to  men  whose  distinguishing  character- 
istic was  their  religious  faith,  and  who  sought  to  put  fully  into  practice 
in  the  new  commonwealth  they  had  founded,  the  principles  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures. 

The  early  settlers  of  this  town  were  many  of  them  descendants  of 
the  Pilgrims,  and  as  a  community,  inherited  their  principles  and  their 
usages.  I  can  only  stop  to  say,  that  the  town  record  on  this  subject 
has  been  more  than  good  from  the  first.  Free  public  schools  jjave  ever 
been  sedulously  guarded  and  generously  fostered,  while  the  Westfield 
Academy,  practically  for  many  years  an  adjunct  of  the  common  school 
system,  gave  the  place  a  wide  and  well  deserved  educational  fame. 
Our  normal  school,  which  we  believe  to  be  the  best  in  the  land,  is  a 
testimonial  not  only  to  the  wisdom  of  the  state,  but  to  the  public  spirit 
of  this  community. 

"  Our  public  schools*  we  hold  them  in  trust."  It  is  a  matter  of  proud 
record,  that  our  schools  have  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  advancement 
of  our  material  interests,  and  their  condition  on  this  bi-centennial  day 
is  a  matter  of  public  congratulation,  in  which  I  may  say  that  you,  sir, 
have  an  especial  right  to  share.  If  time  permitted,  I  should  like  to  speak 
of  our  schools  as  they  now  are.  We  hold  them  in  trust,  too  sacred  to  be 
touched  by  a  demagogue,  too  precious  to  be  rudely  handled  by  any  po- 
litical manager  for  any  party's  ends.  They  require  the  patient  and 
faithful  watch  and  care  of  our  best  men  and  women,  and  they  will  de- 
mand increasing  liberal  appropriations  of  our  money.  But,  fellow- 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  101 

citizens,  these  free  public  schools  are  fundamental  in  our  social  and  polit- 
ical economy,  and  whatever  their  real  interests  demand,  we  will  gladly 
give.  If  we  can  but  produce  among  us  noble  men  and  women,  who 
shall  bless  and  honor  us,  we  may  well  afford  to  sacrifice  all  other  pro- 
ducts, for  they  are  worth  nothing  except  for  this.  If  we  fail  in  this, 
nothing  else  has  value.  Whoever  seeks  to  overthrow  the  common 
school  system  of  our  country,  is  an  enemy  to  the  common  good,  and  is 
to  be  resisted  always,  at  all  hazards,  and  to  the  end. 

I  wish  to  say,  sir,  in  conclusion,  that  in  these  days  the  beneficent 
end  of  our  system  of  public  instruction  can  not  be  fully  reached,  un- 
less attendance  on  the  schools  be  made  in  a  greater  degree  compulsory. 
The  times  are  ripe  for  broader  and  more  stringent  legislation  on  this 
subject.  The  education  given  by  primary  instruction  should  be  the 
lowest  requisite  for  full  citizenship,  and  this  education  should  be  de- 
manded by  the  state.  In  short,  sir,  we  have  need  to  reproduce,  in  its 
spirit,  one  of  the  earliest  legislative  acts  of  the  Massachusetts  colony, 
which  was  as  follows : — "  Forasmuch  as  the  good  education  of  children 
is  of  singular  behoofe  and  benefit  to  any  commonwealth ;.  and  whereas 
parents  and  masters  are  too  indulgent  and  negligent  of  their  duty  in 
that  kind, — It  is  therefore  ordered  by  this  courte  and  authority  thereof, 
that  the  selectmen  of  every  towne,  in  the  several  precincts  and  quar- 
ters where  they  dwell,  shall  have  a  vigilant  eye  over  their  brethren  and 
neighbors ;  to  see  first,  that  none  of  them  shall  suffer  so  much  barbar- 
israe  in  any  of  their  familyes,  as  not  to  endeavor  to  teach  by  themselves 
or  others,  theire  children  and  apprentices,  so  much  learning  as  may  en- 
able them  perfectly  to  read  the  English  tongue,  and  knowledge  of  the 
capitall  lawes."  From  "so  much  barbarisme  "  in  any  of  our  "fam- 
ilyes," may  "  the  courte  and  authority  thereof  "  defend  us. 

Seventeenth  regular  toast  : 

The  Westfield  Merchants — Past  and  present. 

L.  F.  Thayer,  Esq.,  responded  substantially  as  fol- 
lows: 

I  really  think  it  rather  severe,  Mr.  President,  that  I  should  be  called 
upon  to  respond  to  the  sentiment,  the  Merchants  of  Westfield ;  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  when  the  sentiment  was  read,  that  many  here  ex- 
pected to  see  some  dignified  merchant  of  ripe  age  and  experience,  rise 
to  respond,  instead  of  myself  who  am  but  a  boy,  in  comparison  with 
others  who  have  gone  before  me  on  the  same  path. 

When  I  declined  to  respond  to  this  sentiment,  on  the  ground  that  I 


102  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

could  hardly  consider  myself  much  of  a  merchant,  I  confess  I  was  some- 
what taken  aback  by  our  worthy  orator,  who  very  kindly  remarked  that 
he  thought  I  was  as  much  that  as  anything  else,  which  some  sensitive 
minds  might  have  construed  to  mean  more  than  was  flattering. 

Had  I  been  called  upon  to  respond  to  the  sentiment  "  Jack  at  all 
trades,"  I  should  have  been  just  at  home,  and  there  is  no  telling  how 
good  a  speech  I  should  have  made.  But  I  confess  that  I  am  a  little 
puzzled  here,  for  my  memory  extends  not  back  to  the  good  old  time 
that  existed,  ere  that  daughter  of  Massachusetts,  called  the  state  of 
Maine,  embodied  in  her  statutes  certain  laws,  which  the  indulgent  mother 
thought  so  good  that  she  followed  her  daughter's  example,  and  went 
and  did  it  too ;  I  say  I  do  not  remember  those  glorious  old  times,  when 
free  from  civil  law,  our  worthy  vice-presidents  carried  two  jugs  to  the 
grocery  for  their  molasses,  having  one  filled  with  the  common  article 
in  use  at  the  present  day,  and  the  other  with  an  article  refined  from  the 
same  material,  and  purified  from  all  that  was  unpleasant,  and  in  those 
days  familiarly  called  Santa  Croix.  I  do  not  remember  the  scenes  in 
the  old  store  on  the  west  side  of  the  green,  where  round  the  fire  on 
winter  nights,  they  used  to  gather,  and  as  the  glass  went  round,  discuss 
and  settle  those  knotty  questions  which  wearied  their  brains  by  day ;  and 
it  seems  to  me  that  if  some  of  these  worthy  gentlemen  by  my  side,  who 
in  their  earlier  days  may  have  happened  to  have  witnessed  some  of 
those  scenes,  would  tell  the  story,  it  would  be  vastly  more  pleasant  to 
sit  and  hear  it,  but  it  is  always  the  way,  those  that  do  know,  won't  tell. 
But,  coming  down  to  more  modern  times,  I  do  remember  the  little  shop 
that  stood  where  Mr.  Colton's  store  now  is,  and  where  Jonathan  Tay- 
lor, with  his  genial  face  and  kindly  smile  stood  sentinel;  and  the  store 
on  the  east  side,  where  the  worthy  proprietor  systematized  his  business 
to  a  nicety.  I  remember,  and  who  does  not,  the  old  store  on  the  north 
side  of  the  green,  where  Samuel  Arnold,  or  as  we  boys  used  to  call 
him,  Uncle  Sam,  kept  his  various  wares,  and  sold  his  goods  for  the  best 
price  he  could  get,  and  preached  and  prayed  free  to  all  who  would 
listen ;  his  prayers  for  the  rag-shag  and  bob-tail  from  hoop  pole,  will 
never  be  forgotten  by  those  that  heard  them.  Uncle  Sam  was  a  gen- 
ius in  his  way,  and  many  were  the  tricks  the  boys  sought  to  play 
upon  him,  but  rarely  did  they  outwit  him.  I  don't  suppose  there  ex- 
ists in  the  state  to-day,  a  store  where  such  infinite  variety  of  goods  could 
be  found  as  was  stored  in  that  old  trap,  for  nothing  could  be  mentioned 
or  called  for,  which  the  old  man  did  not  have.  I  remember  of  two 
young  men  making  a  bet  on  the  ground  that  one  asserted  that  nothing 
ould  be  called  for  that  he  could  not  produce ;  and  when  the  trial  came. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   TABLE.  108 

the  opposing  party  walked  very  blandly  up  to  Mr.  Arnold,  and  inquired 
if  he  had  any  second-hand  pulpits  for  sale,  which  was  certainly  rather  of 
a  rare  article  to  find  in  a  mercantile  house  ;  but  the  man  was  a  little  sur- 
prised when  the  old  gentleman,  in  his  most  winning  manner,  asked  him 
to  just  step  up  stairs  and  see  if  the  one  he  had  would  suit  him.  As 
the  party  that  was  invited  had  no  particular  use  for  the  article,  he  did 
not  buy,  but  paid  the  bet. 

But  it  is  late,  and  I  must  not  weary  you.  I  will  not  mention  the 
names  of  those  (some  of  whom  are  with  us  to-day)  who  have  gone  out 
from  us  into  broader  fields,  and  have  lined  their  nests  with  gems  and  gold. 
I  will  not  speak  personally  of  those,  who  at  the  present  time  are  labor- 
ing from  early  morn  till  late  at  night  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  our 
growing  town ;  and  let  me  tell  you  as  one  that  knows,  that  there  is  no 
harder  life  than  that  you  merchants  lead,  and  from  personal  knowledge  and 
acquaintance  with  most  of  them,  I  know  them  to  be  earnest  and  honest 
men.  I  will  not  close  without  mentioning  with  kindly  feelings,  the 
names  of  Col.  Hooker,  Hiram  Harrison  and  Jasper  R.  Rand,  names  that 
embodied  all  that  was  good,  and  true,  and  generous  in  human  life ;  few 
names  in  the  mercantile  history  of  Westfield  were  as  widely  known  as 
theirs.  But  they,  with  others  we  have  known,  have  passed  away,  but 
will  never  be  forgotten,  for  the  good  deeds  of  their  lives,  quarried  from 
generous  thoughts  and  noble  impulses,  have  builded  for  them  monu- 
ments nobler  and  richer  than  art  can  rear. 

Eighteenth  regular  toast : 
The  Press — The  great  regulator  and  educator  of  human  society. 

Mr.  Porter  C.  Bliss,  a  reporter  for  the  "  New  York 
Times,"  and  a  recently  released  prisoner  of  Lopez,  in 
South  America,  was  introduced  to  the  audience  by 
Mr.  Leonard  the  presiding  officer  at  the  table,  as  one 
who  had  suffered  much  in  consequence  of  his  recent 
connection  with  the  diplomatic  service  of  our  conn- 
try  in  Paraguay.  He  also  presented  him  as  a  gen- 
tleman of  rare  attainments  in  antiquarian  lore,  and 
as  a  kinsman,  both  being  descended  from  John  Leon- 
ard. That  individual  resided  in  Springfield,  his  house 
standing  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  block  of 
Messrs.  Homer  Foot  &  Co.  He  had  fourteen  child- 


WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

ren,  the  eldest  born  in  1641,  with  whom  and  their 
descendants,  many  families  in  this  vicinity  have  been 
and  are  connected.  Like  many  of  the  early  fathers, 
he  fell  by  the  hands  of  the  Indians. 

Mr.  Bliss  responded  to  this  sentiment  as  follows : 

I  am  surprised  to  be  called  upon,  as  this  is  my  first  appearance  in 
Westfield.  I  was  descended  from  a  Springfield  family,  and,  in  listen- 
ing to  the  glowing  eulogies  of  Westfield  to-day,  I  have  thought  that  if 
my  ancestors  had  been  aware  of  its  superior  advantages  they  would 
have  emigrated  in  a  body,  in  which  case  I  should  have  been  born  here ; 
in  this  way  I  might  establish  a  connection  with  Westfield.  In  looking 
up  the  genealogy  of  the  Bliss  family,  recently,  I  have  ascertained  that 
no  member  of  it  was  ever  imprisoned  or  hung,  so  I  must  consider  my- 
self the  first  scamp  in  the  family  ;  two  years  ago  began  for  me  the  time 
that  "tries  men's  souls,"  and  mine  was  tried  and  condemned.  I  com- 
mend the  courage  of  the  town  in  continuing  the  celebration  in  the  midst 
of  untoward  circumstances  ;  I  find  some  comfort  in  the  law  of  compensa- 
tion. I  have  it  from  good  authority,  that,  while  our  deluge  was  at  its 
height,  Niagara  river  fell  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet. 

I  hardly  belong  to  the  regular  press ;  I  am  not  a  member  of  the 
press  gang,  but  only  of  the  flying-artillery ;  I  can  say,  however,  that 
this  is  a  most  im-press-ive  occasion,  and  I  will  corn-press  my  remarks 
and  close. 

Nineteenth  regular  toast: 

The  State  Normal  School — May  the  growth  of  the  School  in  the  fu- 
ture, as  in  the  past,  like  the  recent  enlargement  of  the  building,  be  in 
an  upward  direction. 

Mr.  Dickinson  replied  for  the  State  Normal  School, 
in  the  following  felicitous  manner : 

I  suppose  this  festival  belongs  to  those  who  can  claim  it  by  the  right 
of  birth.  Although  I  was  born  not  many  miles  away,  I  can  not  claim 
Westfield  as  my  native  town,  and  yet  I  have  a  feeling  towards  it  simi- 
lar to  that  expressed  by  the  foreigner,  who  said  that  he  loved  this  coun- 
try so  well,  that  he  had  concluded  to  make  it  his  native  country.  I 
have  come  to  love  Westfield,  first,  on  account  of  its  physical  beauty. 
I  do  not  think  there  is  a  town  in  the  commonwealth  in  which  nature  has 
bestowed  her  favors  more  generously  and  judiciously,  in  so  far  as  phys- 
ical beauty  is  concerned,  than  in  Westfield.  We  have  here  quiet  walks 


PROCEEDINGS    AT   TABLE.  105 

and  shades ;  extended  plains  and  sloping  hills ;  and  all  those  variations 
of  hill,  and  valley  and  forest,  that  constitute  a  beautiful  landscape.  I 
find  that  all  who  live  here  for  a  time,  love  to  return  after  an  absence, 
and  revisit  old  places,  that  have  been  to  them  in  former  years  the  occa- 
sion of  so  much  pleasure. 

But  I  love  the  town  especially  on  account  of  her  educational  institu- 
tions. Years  ago,  before  the  common  school  system  of  the  common- 
wealth was  brought  to  its  present  state  of  perfection,  before  the  day  of 
high  schools,  when  there  was  no  grading  of  the  lower  schools,  with  ref- 
erence to  the  high  schools,  there  was  an  educational  institution  in  this 
town  whose  influence  was  felt  throughout  the  county ;  an  institution 
in  which  the  whole  community  was  educated.  It  is  the  province  of  ed- 
ucation to  mould  the  character  and  regulate  the  conduct.  The  West- 
field  Academy  with  that  good  man,  whom  we  all  remember  with  as 
perfect  a  memory,  and  whom  we  all  love  with  as  fresh  a  love,  as  though 
he  had  but  just  left  us  for  his  place  in  the  upper  world,  at  its  head,  de- 
serves a  perpetual  remembrance  from  this  whole  community,  for  what 
it  has  done  for  the  town  and  county.  The  academy  has  fulfilled  its  high 
commission,  and  in  the  very  place  where  it  stood,  has  sprung  up  an  in- 
stitution that  is  destined  to  complete  that  grand  system  of  public  schools, 
of  which  the  town  has  reason  to  be  proud.  The  normal  schools  of  the 
state  are  a  part  of  her  great  system  of  public  schools.  The  normal  of 
Westfield  has  for  its  object  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  common 
schools  of  the  state. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  success  of  this  school  in  the  past,  par- 
don me  for  saying  that  its  teachers  have  always  performed  an  amount 
of  faithful  work,  that  the  teachers  of  no  other  school  can  easily  exceed ; 
and  we  now  have  the  great  satisfaction  of  experiencing  the  most  hearty 
support  by  our  friends  in  the  town,  and  by  our  patrons  abroad. 

The  gentleman  whose  address  on  this  occasion  has  given  us  so  much 
satisfaction,  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  effective  supporters  of  our 
normal  school.  We  have  occasion  continually  to  feel  that  the  school  is 
among  its  friends.  Encouraged  and  supported,  we  have  three  times 
outgrown  our  accommodations ;  and  if  this  encouragement  and  support 
shall  continue  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  we  will  outgrow  our  ac- 
commodations again.  So  that  whoever  of  you  shall  be  present  at  our 
next  bi-centennial  celebration,  shall  see  a  school-house  in  the  valley, 
and  a  boarding-house  on  the  hill  yonder,  containing  250  pupils  and 
boarders,  furnished  with  all  the  facilities  and  accommodations  necessary 
for  the  most  complete  and  comfortable  preparation  for  the  great  work  of 
common  school-teaching. 
14 


106  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Twentieth  regular'  toast : 

The  Westfield  Academy — Though  dead,  it  yet  speaketh. 

It  was  most  fitting  that  Mr.  William  Goldthwaite, 
so  long  connected  with  this  institution  should  be 
called  upon  to  respond,  whiclr  he  did  in  most  felicitous 
speech,  of  which  we  regret  no  notes  were,  taken. 

Twenty- first  regular  toast  :• 

.  The  prosperity  of  Westfield — The  first  step  in  its  progress  was  in  the 
path  of  learning.  Let  education  follow  its  course  and  stimulate  its 
future. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Greenough's  reply  was  as  follows  : 

After  alluding  to  the  fact  that  he  was  attached  to  Westfield  by  he'r 
educational  institutions,  and  was  afterwards  adopted  as  one  of  the  sons 
of  Westfield,  Mr.  Greenough  proceeded  to  notice  the  elements  of  the 
future  prosperity  of  our  town.  Among  these  he  called  attention  to  the 
advantageous  position  of  Westfield,  accessible  from  the  sea-board  by  two 
direct  lines  of  railway,  and  equally  fortunate  in  its  connections  with  a 
wide  territory  to  the  west  of  us.  He  remarked  that  the  two  streams 
that  here  hollowed  out  our  broad  alluvion  from  a  less  productive  plain, 
here  also  by  their  upper  courses  and  numerous  tributaries,  made  open- 
ings for  roads  that  diverge  from  our  village  as  from  a  natural  center ; 
so  that  the  resources  of  a  wide  territory  are  naturally  the  resources  of 
Westfield.  Passing  from  the  natural  advantages  of  the  place,  Mr. 
G.  remarked,  that  the  elements  of  the  future  prosperity  of  Westfield, 
were  to  be  found  in  the  educational  institutions,  rather  than  in  her  natu- 
ral resources.  He  remarked  that  Athens,  upon  her  rocky  ske,  eclipsed 
in  fame  and  influence,  all  the  wealth  and  splendor  of  ancient  Rome, 
and  that  the  glory  of  New  England  was  not  so  much  her  material  as 
her  mental  products. 

He  closed  with  fitting  allusion  to  the  union  of  feeling  and  of  action 
which  had  characterized  the  people  of  Westfield  in  every  good  work, 
and  expressed  the  belief  that,  what  Westfield  had  so  worthily  begun, 
she  would  nobly  perfect,  until  she  should  be,  in  her  educational  institu- 
tions, second  to  no  other  town  in  the  state. 

Twenty-second  regular  toast : 

The  Business  Men  of  Westfield — Their  thrift  and  enterprise  have 
produced  the  means  by  which  our  public  improvements  have  been  origi- 
nated. 


PROCEEDINGS* AT   TABLE.  107 

Mr.  H.  B.  Smith  commenced  by  stating  the  old  ad- 
age, that  any  one  who  could  earn  a  living  in  West- 
field,  could  get  rich  elsewhere,  and  so  he  had  con- 
cluded to  split  the  difference  and  make  up  all  personal 
deficiences  by  trading  chiefly  with  outsiders.  He  re- 
marked upon  the  good  and  great  things  accomplished 
by  our  predecessors,  and  closed  with  some  pertinent 
remarks  to  the  young  men  of  business  of  Westfield. 

Twenty- third  regular  toast: 

The  Westfield  men,  who  are  honored  business  men  of  other  places. 

Mr.  Calvin  Day  of  Hartford  replied  briefly,  but  to 
the  point. 

At  this  point,  the  following  letter  was  read  from 
Key.  H.  Bingham  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  express- 
ing sympathy  with  us  in  our  festal  gathering : 

NEW  HAVEN,  October  6,  1869. 

WILLIAM  G.  BATES,  Esq.,  Westfield,  Mass. — Dear  Sir:  We  are 
disappointed  as  to  a  timely  conveyance  to  Westfield.  At  the  very  last 
available  hour,  I  forward  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Bingham,  formerly  Miss 
Sybil  Moseley  of  your  town.  Even  the  express  company  will  not  send 
it  to-day. 

This  friend  of  the  heathen  was  an  honor  to  the  town  that  gave  her 
birth  and  education.  She  was  a  sagacious  and  successful  teacher  in 
Southampton,  Mass.,  Sharon  and  East  Windsor,  Conn.,  Canandaigua, 
N.  Y.,  and  Honolulu,  Sandwich  Islands;  she  was  a  true,  affectionate 
and  faithful  missionary,  wife,  and  mother,  unflinching  in  toilsome  and 
hazardous  missionary  pioneering,  and  patient  in  suffering  to  the  end. 
"She  hath  done  what  she  could."  I  trust  her  rest  is  glorious. 

Oh  !  that  the  Lord  of  the  great  harvest  would  send  a  competent  num- 
ber of  laborers  of  like  spirit  into  his  harvest ;  and  that  all  nations  may 
be  soon  led  to  acknowledge  the  supreme  sovereignty  of  Christ,  as  truly 
and  fully  as  the  Hawaiian  people  have  gladly  and  gratefully  done. 

Yours  truly, 

H.  BINGHAM. 

The  Rev.  Hiram  Bingham  married  Miss  Sybil  Mose- 
ley, daughter  of  Pliny  Moseley,  in  1820,  and  sailed 


108  WESTFIELD   BI -CENTENNIAL. 

with  her,  with  the  first  corps  of  missionaries,  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  After  spending  the  greater  part 
of  their  lives  in  the  service,  they  returned  here,  on 
account  of  her  ill  health,  and  she  has  since  died.  He 
married  afterwards  Miss  Naomi  Morse,  daughter  of 
Jacob  Morse  of  this  town.  Mr.  Bingham  has  died 
within  a  few  months. 

The  toasts  to  the  farmers  of  Westfield  found  no 
response. 

Mr.  George  Stowe  sung  an  original  song,  bristling 
with  most  effective  and  resounding  elocution,  which 
elicited  great  applause.  We  give  the  words  entire, 
but  the  elocution  we  can  not  give : 

BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Tune: — "  CO-CA-CHE-LUNK." 
I. 

We  are  gathered  'round  this  table 

On  this  Bi-Centennial  day; 
Each  and  all  should  now  be  able 

Here  to  have  their  little  say; 
Noble  ones  and  Blood  relation, 

Not  excepting  Snow  and  Thayer, 
Gathered  here  from  every  station, 

Fear  not  any  Fowler's  snare. 
CHORUS  . — C  ocachelunk-chelunk-chelaly , 
Cocachelunk-chelunk-chelay ; 
Cocachelunk-chelunk-chelaly, 
Hi !  O  chicachelunk-chelay. 

II. 

All  your  -4&&o«-ship  may  feel,  sir, 

Quite  submissive  to  our  fates, 
Just  down  there  we  go  to  Kneil,  sir, 

And  up  there  we  go  for  Bates. 
Years  ago  we  made  our  pledges, 

Kept  them  when  was  no  mishap, 
Here  and  there  a  Bush  or  Hedges, 

Knight  or  Day  we  had  a  Knapp. 
CHORUS. 


PROCEEDINGS    AT   TABLE.  109 


III. 

Smiths  are  num'rous  everywhere,  sir, 

Here  are  White  and  Black  and  Brown  ; 
Johnson  with  his  organs  rare,  sir, 

Tunes  his  pipes  in  many  a  town: 
We'll  unite  in  Stevens'  chime,  sir, 

We'll  press  GilletCs  friendly  hand; 
While  we  have  our  Morse  on  time,  sir, 

Isn't  it  time  for  Gilmore's  bandt 
CHORUS. 

IV. 
We  have  Shepherds  without  Crooks,  sir, 

We  have  Farmers,  Young  and  old, 
'Tis  recorded  in  the  books,  sir, 

We  the  Champion  cattle  hold; 
Here's  one  Foote,  and  by  the  Powers,  sir, 

Fuller  measure  give  who  can ; 
No  nine  Taylors  such  as  ours,  sir, 
Are  required  to  make  one  man. 
CHORUS. 

V. 
Silver  street  had  its  own  Stiles,  sir, 

Bulls  once  dwelt  where  now  grows  Rice; 
Farther  on,  within  two  miles,  sir, 
Horton's  Miller  toll'd  the  price; 
Where's  the  family  of  Lord,  sir? 

Royal  names  don't  seem  to  stay, 
One  exception, — 'pon  my  word,  sir, 

We  have  Jo-King  here  to-day. 
CHORUS. 

VI. 
'Mongst  the  Boise  there  was  a  Ladd,  sir, 

We  this  day  have  heard  his  voice ; 
All  about  the  Field  are  glad,  sir, 

Moore  than  Little  we  rejoice; 
Hours  of  Bliss,  of  joy  and  pleasure, 
We  upon  this  Green  have  pass'd, 
Grant  we  may  those  mem'ries  treasure, 
While  the  "  Sands  of  life  "  shall  last. 
CHORUS. 

VII. 

Deeply  we  regret,  this  day,  sir, 
That  the  flood-fiend,  far  and  near, 


110  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Has  kept  scores  of  friends  away,  sir, 

We'd  rejoice  to  welcome  here. 
By  the  flood,  if  this  Hull  town,  sir, 

Post  and  Root  had  been  laid  bare, — 
All  the  Gates  and  Barrs  thrown  down,  sir, 

We  At-water  would  not  swear. 
CHORUS. 

VIII. 

Waters  Rising  have  subsided, 

We  will  Lay  aside  our  fears, 
Aud  by  friends  this  day  be  guided, 

Till  the  ' '  Dewey  eve  "  appears. 
Now  I've  had  my  little  say,  sir, 

I  have  had  my  little  blow, 
Now  for  Westfield  I  do  pray,  sir, 

Three  good  cheers  on  her  be-Stow. 
CHORUS. 
WESTFIELD,  MASS.,  October,  1869. 

The  following  verses  were  composed  for  the  occa- 
sion, by  Mrs.  J.  M.  Loomis: 

BI-CENTENNIAL. 

y 

We  meet,  a  landmark  here  to  place, 

O'er  records  old  to  linger, 
And  snatch  the  grace  of  ancient  race, 

From  Time's  corroding  finger. 

To  take  the  pilgrim  staff  of  friends, 

Our  hands  the  need  supplying; 
Love's  service  tends  to  blessed  ends, 

Who  gives  nor  takes  denying. 

To  roam  the  vales  and  climb  the  steep, 

And  wander  on  together, 
Love's  tryst  to  keep  till  shadows  creep, 

And  hands  unclasp  forever. 

The  dear  old  mother,  missing  each 

Lost  step,  with  precious  savor 
Bids  flowers  teach  in  subtle  speech, 

Of  her  unending  favor. 

Thus  breath  of  rose  recalls  the  grace 
Of  one,  so  well  that  sleepeth; 


PROCEEDINGS    AT   TABLE.  Ill 

And  lilies  trace  the  tender  face, 
For  which  a  mother  weepeth. 

We  banish  every  care  to-day, 

All  thoughts  but  true  and  tender; 
The  mystic  ray  that  lights  our  way, 

No  poet  speech  can  render. 

Through  Memory's  land,  with  footsteps  fleet, 

Our  hearts  within  us  burning; 
What  perfumes  sweet  where  press  our  feet ! 

No  sense  but  ours  discerning. 

Ye  Olden  Tyme  !  with  forehead  bare, 

We  give  thee  reverent  greeting ! 
Thy  haunted  air  holds  visions  rare, 

From  fond  souls  never  fleeting. 

Old  winding  paths  of  other  times, 

With  June's  wild  roses  wasting 
Where  fragrant,  vines  distill  their  wines 

To  finer  sense  than  tasting. 

Where  busy  *mart,  sweet  shrubs  and  grass 

As  in  the  old  time  morning, 
Trip  lad  and  lass  through  dewy  pass; 

To  drive  the  cows  at  dawning  ! 

For  grass-grown  way  and  simple  heart, 

Rude  altars  served  for  pleading; 
Nor  asked  a  part  in  piles  of  art, 

Only  God's  service  heeding. 

This  from  a  dame,  whose  honored  lips 
Lend  words  such  grace  and  sweetness, 

Though  story  heard  of  song  of  bird, 
Will  lack  the  song's  completeness. 

Two  hundred  years !  'tis  noontide  light 

In  hoary  old  world's  story; 
When  mailed  knight,  with  armor  dight, 

Went  forth  in  quest  of  glory : 

Antique  to  us,  and  humbly  taught; 

Dim  down  time's  vista  beaming, 
The  simple  thought,  so  quaintly  wrought, 

In  lettered  stones  is  gleaming. 

*The  villagers  formerly  used  the  "  Green  "  as  a  cow  pasture. 


112  WESTPIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Aye  !  humbly  taught,  for  ruthless  deeds 

Claim  royal,  minster's  splendor; 
For  kingly  deeds  how  few  the  meeds 

Most  meet  to  kings  to  render. 

The  starry  heavens  for  every  one, 

Peasant  nor  prince  divining; 
The  blessed  sun  his  course  doth  run, 

Nor  heed  for  whom  he's  shining. 

We'll  walk  the  paths  of  sweet  content, 

Where  happy  birds  are  singing; 
None  e'er  lament,  who  pitch  their  tent, 

Where  peace's  soft  bells  are  ringing. 

This  simple  pilgrim  shrine  we  set; 

Unwritten  by  the  sages, 
Where  storms  shall  fret  and  soft  dews  wet, 

A  way-mark  for  the  ages. 
WESTFIELD,  Oct.  6,  1869. 

The  following  was  contributed  by  Miss  Sara  M. 
Kneil : 

Lo !  glad  we  come  with  happy  hearts 

That  loud  thanksgiving  raise, 
To  greet  the  past  in  days  that  are, 

And  walk  in  ancient  ways. 

We  bid  our  feet  in  reverence  pause, 

Lest  treading  holy  ground; 
We  listen  for  the  song  and  speech 

That  bear  the  olden  sound. 

We  look  once  more  on  faces  dear, 

We  clasp  again  firm  hands, 
And  pledge  anew  the  friendship,  love 

Makes  strong,  with  golden  bands. 

One  home  to-day, — one  mother  ours ; 

While  all  the  arches  ring, 
The  children  of  her  ardent  love 

United  praises  sing. 

Though  distant  far,  and  absent  long, 

Our  hearts  are  still  as  one; 
The  truer  love,  the  stronger  faith, 

Proclaim  a  loyal  son. 


PKOCEEDINGS   AT   TABLE.  113 

As  in  the  sunshine  of  to-day, 

The  centuries'  path  we  trace, 
We  mark  how  end  and  progress  show 

The  Lord's  abundant  grace. 

Through  all  our  hearts  with  one  accord, 

A  common  gladness  runs, 
That  brave  and  wise  the  fathers  were, 

And  we  are  called  their  sons. 

Our  heritage  so  large  and  fair — 

Its  wealth  is  never  told, 
It  lies  not  in  our  goodly  lands, 

Nor  yet  in  counted  gold. 

In  memories  of  the  bravest  lives, 

In  deeds  of  noblest  men, 
In  teachings  of  the  true  and  just 

To-day  renewed  again. 

We  widely  boast  of  honored  store, 

And  ask  for  naught  beside, — 
The  most  of  wealth,  the  best  of  good, 

Are  ne'er  to  us  denied. 

May  He  who  loves  his  children  well, 

Grant  now  the  help  they  crave, 
That,  still  untarnished,  they  transmit 

The  gift  their  fathers  gave. 

The  centuries  meet! — may  all  the  good 

And  honor  two  have  known, 
Be  welcome  gifts  to  greet  the  third, 

And  her  with  blessings  crown. 

O  bygone  days !  O  days  to  come  1 

May  yet  your  paths  be  one, 
And  children's  children  crown  the  work 

The  fathers'  hands  begun. 

WESTFIELD,  Sept.  29, 1869. 

The  following  sentiment  was  volunteered  by  a  wor- 
thy son  of  Westfield,  residing  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  who  was  unable  to  be  present,  William  L.  At- 

15 


114  WESTFIELD   Bl-CENTEXNIAL. 

water,  Esq.,  cashier  at  A.  T.  Stewart's.     A  letter  from 
him  will  be  found  in  the  appendix. 

By  an  Emigrant  son  of  Westfield,  and  an  active 
member  of  a  new  York  "  Can't-get-away  Club." 

GOOD  HIGHWAYS. 

They  have  been  declared  by  high  and  almost  universal  authority  to 
be  the  index  of  the  highest  civilization.  It  follows  that  those,  who 
make  good  roads  and  keep  roads  good,  are  the  most  civilized  of  men, 
as  well  as  benefactors  to  the  world  of  travelers.  It  is  therefore  emi- 
nently proper  to  commemorate  one,  who  for  many  years  was  Westfield's 
most  efficient  Commissioner  of  Highways,  giving  a  large  part  of  his 
time  and  counsel  as  a  voluntary  service.  He  had  a  settled  prejudice 
against  stones,  large  or  small,  obstructing  or  throwing  discomforts  in  the 
pathway  of  life.  I  offer  the  memory  of  ELIJAH  BATES. 

FIRE-WORKS. 

The  display  of  fire-works  under  the  direction  of  the 
Executive  Committee,  in  the  evening,  on  Moseley's 
Park  on  Main  street,  was  finer  than  is  often  seen  out- 
side the  limits  of  a  large  city,  and  certainly  surpassed 
anything  ever  witnessed  in  this  vicinity.  The  whole 
affair  was  a  decided  success  in  spite  of  the  water- 
soaked  land,  and  the  tardy  arrival  of  railroad  trains. 
Much  of  the  success  however,  was  due  to  the  interest 
taken,  and  the  exertions  made  in  its  behalf  by  Mr. 
A.  T.  Rand,  formerly  of  this  town.  The  people  who 
densely  thronged  the  streets  leading  to  the  place  of 
exhibition,  were  courteous  and  kind ;  and  notwith- 
standing the  thick  darkness  which  brooded  over  us, 
in  the  absence  of  the  usual  gas-lights,  unfortunately 
extinguished  by  the  freshet,  the  good  nature  and  pleas- 
ant humor  of  the  crowd,  who  were  jostling  each  other 
to  find  standing  room,  was  very  noticeable  and  enjoy- 
able ;  and  if  disaster  and  disappointment  bring  such 
results,  we  shall  welcome  them  hereafter. 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  115  . 

The  exhibition  opened  with  the  burning  of  colored 
lights,  which  revealed  the  large  pieces  prepared  for 
the  delight  of  the  multitude.  Silent  and  still  they 
stood,  like  spectres  awaiting  the  magic  touch  which 
should  wake  them  to  life.  Then  followed  a  fine  dis- 
play of  rockets,  Roman  candles,  mines,  etc. 

The  first  large  piece  was  the  "Harp  of  Iris,"  dis- 
played in  changing  colors,  after  which  came  shell  fired 
from  a  brass  mortar,  these  burst  in  the  air  with  a 
heavy  explosion,  scattering  stars  of  every  color.  Af- 
ter more  rockets,  fired  singly  and  in  groups,  also  Ro- 
man candles,  colored  lights,  etc.,  came  "a  moving  star," 
which  at  first  fixed,  soon  commenced  revolving  with 
increased  velocity  till  it  exhausted  itself.  After  an- 
other plentiful  bombardment  of  the  sky,  by  rockets, 
Roman  candles,  etc.,  the  "Yankee  Windmill"  ap- 
peared, reminding  one  of  the  mills  seen  on  the  sea- 
shore for  pumping  water.  This  was  followed  by 
"Spider  Legs,"  a  very  comical  contrivance,  which 
reached  its  feet  and  legs  ever  forward  in  its  revolu- 
tions. 

At  about  this  time  the  cry  of  fire  was  raised,  and 
the  surging  of  the  multitude  seeming  to  those  em- 
ployed in  exhibiting  the  works,  to  be  in  the  direction 
of  the  burning  house,  they  brought  the  exhibition  to 
a  close  by  firing  the  "grand  architectural  piece,"  some 
seventy-five  feet  in  length,  and  thirty  feet  in  height. 
This  consisted  of  a  base  almost  ten  feet  in  height,  on 
either  side  of  which  reclined  the  representatives  of 
Forest  and  Civilization.  The  latter  with  whip  in  hand, 
having  a  local  significance.  On  the  pedestal  the  word 
"  Woronoco,"  was  brilliantly  set  forth.  Above  these 
principal  figures  were — 1669 — 1869 ;  above  that,  in 
arch,  the  word  "  Westfi eld,"  thirty  feet  in  length,  sup- 


116  WESTFIELD  BI-CENTENNIAL. 

ported  by  a  full  battery  of  Roman  candles.  On  either 
side  of  the  central  piece  were  columns  surmounted 
by  coronets,  discharging  stars  and  colored  lights. 
This  piece  as  seen  before  the  exhibition,  by  the  col- 
ored lights,  was  really  very  fine,  but  in  the  grand 
finale  exceeded  even  the  anticipations  of  the  most  ex- 
pectant beholders. 

SOCIAL  PARTY  AT  THE  HOUSE*  OF  WILLIAM  G.  BATES. 

Invitations  were  extended  to  the  guests  of  the  town 
to  assemble  at  the  dwelling-house  of  Mr.  Bates,  on  the 
evening  of  the  6th ;  and  preparations  were  made  for 
their  reception.  A  large  concourse  of  people  went 
to  the  brow  of  the  hill  on  Main  street,  to  witness  the 
fire-works, — an  exhibition  which  others  failed  to  wit- 
ness, on  account  of  the  fatigues  of  the  day.  It  was 
expected  that  there  would  have  been  a  general  at- 
tendance at  Mr.  Bates' ;  but,  after  the  close  of  the 
pyrotechnic  display,  the  fire  alarm  was  given,  and 
the  buildings  of  Mr.  W.  C.  Holcomb,  at  the  foot  of 
Pine  hill,  in  Court  street,  were  found  to  be  in  flames. 
The  vivid  brightness  of  the  illumination  called  away 
a  large  portion  of  the  people  to  the  scene  of  the  dis- 
aster ;  and  when  the  conflagration  was  subdued,  the 
greater  part  of  them  returned  to  the  houses  of  their 
kindred.  As  it  was,  quite  a  pleasant  and  agreeable 
company  assembled,  enjoying  the  pleasures  of  social 
converse,  and  partaking  of  the  hospitalities  which 
were  provided.  Every  one  seemed  to  enjoy  to  the 
full,  the  whole  of  the  exercises,  and  to  rejoice  in  the 
happy  thought,  which  had  inspired  the  convocation. 
The  storm,  the  disarrangement  of  the  plans,  the  re- 
tardation of  the  assembling  of  old  citizens,  the  keep- 
ing back  of  so  many  old  friends,  whom  we,  and  our 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  117 

guests  alike,  desired  to  meet  and  welcome,  was  some- 
thing of  a  damper  upon  the  exultation  of  the  party  ; 
but,  in  the  meeting  itself,  of  so  many  old  and  valued 
friends,  so  long  separated,  and  whom  many  never  ex- 
pected to  meet  again  ;  the  meeting  of  them  here, — 
AT  HOME  !  the  inspiring  thought,  which  had  been 
called  forth  by  the  performances,  and  by  the  perva- 
ding spirit  of  the  occasion,  seemed  to  render  the  day 
one,  almost,  of  unalloyed  happiness  ;  and  it  was  the 
remark  of  more  than  one  of  the  guests,  who  had  trav- 
eled many  hundreds  of  miles  to  greet  his  kindred, 
that  he  should  go  back  to  his  own  happy  home  with 
the  remembrance  of  having  passed  one  of  the  happi- 
est days  of  his  life. 

Thus  terminated  the  sixth  day  of  October,  A.  D. 
1869,  a  day  long  to  be  remembered  by  thousands  of 
our  present  and  former  citizens.  For  ourselves,  we 
felt  proud  of  our  town.  We  had  felt  gratified  be- 
fore, at  the  unanimity  of  our  citizens  in  inaugurating 
and  carrying  forward  the  celebration ;  but  we  felt  a 
new  enthusiasm,  when  we  found  what  a  feeling  of 
gratified  enjoyment  had  been  inspired  by  its  liberal- 
ity, in  the  hearts  of  so  many  of  its  returned  sons  and 
daughters. 

RECEPTION  AT  CAPTAIN  LUCIUS  F.  THAYER'S. 

A  fitting  and  most  pleasant  feature  of  the  bi-cen- 
tennial  celebration  was  the  social  gathering  at  the 
residence  of  Lucius  F.  Thayer,  Esq.,  on  Silver  street, 
Thursday  evening,  the  7th  inst.  The  railway  trains 
of  that  morning  and  during  the  day  brought  many 
persons  who  were  not  able  to  be  present  at  the  fes- 
tivities of  the  preceding  day,  owing  to  the  interrup- 
tion of  travel  caused  by  the  storm  and  flood,  and  Mr. 


118  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Thayer,  true  to  a  prompt,  generous  and  wide  awake 
nature,  decided  to  open  his  capacious  mansion  and 
invite  all  such,  and  as  many  others  as  chose,  to  come 
to  a  social  re-union.  The  result  was  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  gatherings  of  the  occasion.  Old  friends 
and  acquaintances  were  happy  in  reviving  the  sweet 
memories  of  youthful  days.  The  school  boys  and 
girls  of  days  long  past,  whose  locks  were  silvered  over, 
whose  forms  were  bent  and  whose  steps  were  not  as 
elastic  as  of  yore,  then  lived  their  childhood  days  over 
again,  and  seemed  to  warm  with  youthful  fire  and 
animation  as  the  exploits  of  the  past  came  up  in  re- 
view. Fire-works  which  had  not  been  used  the  pre- 
vious evening,  owing  to  the  alarm  of  fire,  were  dis- 
played on  the  lawn  in  front  of  the  house.  Roman 
candles,  sky  rockets,  shooting  and  revolving  stars, 
wheels,  etc.,  etc.,  contributed  to  the  general  joy,  and 
made  the  hours  short  and  felicitous. 

Among  the  hundreds  present,  it  may  be  invidious 
to  mention  the  names  of  any,  as  at  best  we  can  give 
but  few.  Yet  we  recall,  with  pleasure,  the  radiant 
faces  of  Joseph  W.  and  Reuben  King,  Esqs.,  of  Illi- 
nois, who  fill  honorable  and  influential  positions  in 
their  adopted  State,  representing  as  they  do,  one  of 
the  most  ancient  families  of  the  town ;  of  the  stately 
and  thoughtful  Frederick  Sacket,  Esq.,  of  Chicago, 
who,  starting  in  life  as  a  humble  mechanic  has  carved 
out  for  himself  a  position  at  the  bar  in  that  city  which 
can  be  filled  only  by  talents  of  the  highest  order ;  of 
the  genial  and  sunny  Henry  W.  Bates,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  with  wife  and  sister,  Mrs.  Warner,  children  of 
Elijah  Bates  of  fragrant  and  precious  memory ;  of 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  Ely,  of  Roslyn,  L.  1.,  of  fine  physique  and 
cultured  mind  who  gave  us  a  neat  and  chaste  speech 


PROCEEDINGS    AT    TABLE.  119 

at  the  dinner  table ;  of  D.  B.  Mosely,  Esq.,  the  ac- 
complished editor,  and  his  brother,  the  publisher  of 
the  Religious  Herald,  Hartford,  Conn. ;  of  Rev.  John 
Cadwell  with  a  life  of  successful  toil  as  a  Christian 
minister;  and  of  E.  M.  West,  Esq.,  a  wealthy  banker 
of  Illinois,  who  had  allied  himself  to  the  "ancient 
and  honorable "  Atwater  family  by  marriage  and  was 
here  to  represent  it  as  well  as  himself.  And  so  we 
might  go  on,  but  time  and  space  forbid.  They  came 
and  they  have  gone,  but  the  memories  of  the  occasion 
still  linger  in  refreshing  sweetness. 


Appendix. 


INCORPORATION  OF  WESTFIELD— MAY  28,  1669. 

SPRINGFEILD,  Att  a  Towne  Meeting  ffeb.  2d,  1668.'  Uppon  ye  Motion 
of  ye  Inhabitants  at  Worronoco  This  Town  being  willing  to  prmote  & 
further  their  desire  of  being  a  Township  of  Themselves,  (amongst  other 
graunts  to  them  did  &c)  Doe  leave  the  Inhabitants  there  to  themselves 
to  raannage  their  own  matters,  or  as  the  Honnord  Genie  Corte  shall 
further  Order  :  And  we  hope  the  Corte  will  see  cause  to  Order  them  to 
be  a  Township  &  that  they  through  the  favor  of  God  may  grow  up  into 
a  comfortable  society,  &  bee  a  happy  Neighbourhood  to  Us  &  Our 
ffreinds  &  Theires. 

This  is  a  true  Coppy  of  the  Town  Ordr  vizt,  soe  much  of  it  as  is 
concerning  the  releasing  of  Woronoco  from  Springfeild. 

Taken  out  of  ye  Town  Records 

By  mee  ELIZUR  HOLYOKE  Recorder. 

(B.  112,  P.  193.) 

There  being  a  motion  made  to  this  Court  in  ye  behalfe  of  ye  Inhab- 
itants at  Woronoake  belonging  to  Springfeild,  That  they  may  be  a 
Towncship  of  ymselves  :  Springfeild  being  willing  theretoe  as  appeares 
by  Coppy  of  an  order  of  that  Towne  under  their  Recorders  hand 
heretoe  anexed.  Leaving  Woronoak  to  ymselves  &  referring  ym  to 
this  Court  :  This  Court  (therefore)  Doth  hereby  Grant  them  to  be  a 
Towneship,  &  allows  them  all  Priveledges  according  as  other  Townes 
have  in  this  Collony,  And  that  ye  Sd  Towne  be  called  Westfeild  : 

The  magists  have  past  this  their  brethren  the  Deputys  hereto 
consenting. 

28  May  1669.  EDWARD  RAWSON  Secty. 

Consented  to  by  the  Deputyes, 

WILLIAM  TOKKEY  Cleric. 
(B.  112,  P.  193.) 

16 


122  UESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

"  THE  BOUNDS  OF  WESTFEILD." 

SPRINGFEILD  ;  Aprill  14th  1670. 

Wee  whose  names  are  here  subscribed  being  a  Comittce  appoynted 
by  the  Town  of  Spriugfeild  for  ye  laying  out  of  the  quantity  of  Six 
miles  Square  graunted  to  Westfeild  by  the  Honnord  Genii  Corte  have 
attended  the  said  Work  and  therefore  doe  hereby  declare  how  Their 
said  quantity  of  land  shall  lye,  that  is  to  say  the  said  quantity  of  land 
is  laid  out  to  them  five  mile  broad  at  ye  Northerly  end  thereof  extend- 
ing from  a  pine  tree  marked  at  ye  East  Mountayne  to  a  white  oake 
marked  at  ye  West  Mountayne,  &  it  runneth  in  length  Southerly  Nine 
Mile  that  is  to  say  from  the  said  Pine  tree  holding  the  course  of  the 
South  South  West  poynt  uppon  ye  Meridian  compass :  And  at  the 
Southerly  end  of  their  Nine  Mile  their  limitts  are  ffoure  miles  broad 
Westward  :  And  the  Ledge  of  Mountaynes  is  to  be  the  bounds  between 
Springfeild  &  Westfeild  :  wthin  this  tract  of  land  their  is  conteyned  the 
quantity  of  about  three  Square  miles  of  land  granted  before  by  Spring- 
feild to  Westfeild,  &  about  the  quantity  of  Two  square  miles  in  reference 
to  the  farmes  of  the  Worthy  Major  Atherton  deceased  &  Capt.  Clapp. 
ELIZUR  HOLYOKE  GEORGE  COTJLTON 

SAMDELL  MARSHEEILD  ROWLAND  THOMAS. 

The  Deputyes  approve  of  this  returne  sd  Honor'd  magists  Consent- 
ing hereto. 

WILLIAM  TORREY  Cleric. 
The  Magists  Consent  hereto. 

EDW.  RAWSON  Secrety. 

[Massachusetts  Archives,  vol.  112,  page  201.] 
COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 

SECRETARY'S  DEPARTMENT,      ) 
BOSTON,  Aug.  28,  1869.  j 

A  true  copy, 

OLIVER  WARNER, 
Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  WESTFIELD  RECORDS  BETWEEN 
1658  AND  1669,  INCLUSIVE. 

The  extracts  and  dilapidated  leaves  show  the  following  grants  of  land, 
and  the  names  of  the  following  persons,  as  inhabitants,  at  the  dates 
mentioned : 

1658,  December  17 — A  grant  to  "Ensigne  Tho.  Cooper"  on  the 
north  side  of  Woronoco  River. 


APPENDIX.  123 

1660.  March  13 — A  grant  to  Dea.  Sara.  Chapman,  "20  or  30  acres  " 
on  the  east  side  "  of  the  second  brook,  that  is  this  side  of  Tho.  Coop- 
er's," running  from  the  river  to  the  hill. 

1661,  February  19 — A  grant  to  Capt.  Pynchon,  Robt.  Ashley  and 
Geo.   Colton,  the  forfeited  land  of  Jona.  and  John  Gilbert,  of   the 
"  low  lands  between  the  river  and  the  hills." 

1667,  January  9 — Grants  confirmed  to  Geo.  Phelps,  Isaac  Phelps, 
Capt.  Cooke,  Mr.  Cornish,  Moses  Cook,  Thos.  Dewey,  Thos.  Noble, 
David  Ashley,  Mr.  John  Holyoke,  John  Osborne.  At  the  same  time, 
Capt.  Cooke,  Thos.  Dewey,  John  Williams,  John  Sacket,  John  Pon- 
der, David  Ashley  and  Mr.  Cornish  were  appointed  to  view  and  appor- 
tion the  fencing,  &c. 

1667,  March  2 — Thos.  Noble,  David  Ashley  and  John  Root  pe- 
titioned for  an  addition  of  two  rods  in  width,  each,  to  their  house- 
lots  west  of  "Indian  fort." 

On  petition  of  Geo.  Fyler,  a  house-lot  of  6  acres  was  granted  him 
"next  to  John  Root's,  or  next  but  one,"  and  an  addition  of  2  rods  in 
breadth,  on  that  side  of  the  river  by  the  Indian  fort.  Also  5  acres  at 
Fort  meadow.  "The  35  acres  of  land  on  the  north  side  of  Woronoco 
River  "above  the  cellars,"  still  undisposed  of,  next  to  Geo.  Fyler's  for- 
mer grant,  it  is  given  to  Walter  Lee,  Ambrose  Fowler,  Geo  Saxton, 
Jona.  Alvord." 

1667,  March  12 — The  inhabitants,  living  "at  the  cellars,"  request- 
ing it,  Geo.  Phelps  and  John  Williams  were  appointed  to  lay  out 
a  highway  across  "the  wett  meadow  under  the  hill,"  "to  the  pyne 
playnes." 

John  Bancroft  was  granted  30  acres,  and  a  house-lot,  on  the  Fort- 
side. 

Dr.  Davis  speaks  of  a  design  to  call  the  town  "  Streamfield,"  on 
account  of  the  number  of  its  streams  and  rivers.  The  Record  of  1 1 
August,  1668,  speaks  of  a  meeting  at  "Streamfield;"  and  it  was 

1  "  Voted  unanimously  that  we  will  looke  out  for  a  minister  to  carry 
on  the  worke  of  God  in  this  place. 

2.  It  is  voted  by  all  the  inhabitants  and  planters  present  that  they  will 
allow  to  a  minister  the  sum  of  forty  pounds  for  the  first  yeare. 

3.  It  is  voted  that  the  said  sum  be  raysed  for  the  present  (until  the 
company  are  settled  here  together  and  so  long  as  they  shall  agree)  vpon 
the  lands. 

4.  It  is  voted  that  wee  looke  at  our  selves  as  free  and  at  liberty  to 
seeke  out  according  as  God  shall  guide  vs  for  a  Minister  to  carry  on 
the  worke  of  Christ  here." 


124  WESTF1ELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

16G8,  August  27 — A  grant  was  made  to  "  Jedidiah  Dewcy  15  or  16 
acres  of  land  viz  the  remaynder  of  Weller  lott,  &  a  home  lott." 

Also  to  Israel  Dewey  8  acres  on  the  Fort  side. 

1868,  Jan.  21 — It  was  voted,  "that  Mr.  Fiske's  continuance  in  the 
ministry  be  earnestly  desired." 

"  Also  that  wee  will  &  doe  ingage  suitable  mayntainance  according 
as  God  shall  inable  us  for  the  future  &  for  the  present  what  is  already 
ingaged  viz  40.  £  for  the  1st  yeare."  They  also  voted  "to  disburse 
40  £  for  building  a  house  for  the  minister,  &  that  the  meeting-house 
be  set  on  the  Fort-side." 

1668,  March  18 — A  division  of  the  territory  was  made  into  three 
parts,  and  lots  were  cast  for  it.  In  the  first  division,  the  lands  were 
allotted  as  follows:  1.  Thomas  Gunn  ;  2.  David  Ashley;  3.  John 
Ponder;  4.  Sergeant  Stebbins ;  5.  Mr.  Joseph  Whiting;  6.  Wm. 
Brookes  (alias  Israel  Dewey) ;  7.  Thomas  Bancroft;  8.  Hugh  Dudley  ; 
9.  Isaac  Phelps;  10.  George  Phelps;  11.  Thomas  Rootes;  13. 
Thomas  Noble 

There  were  grants  also  made  to  other  persons  in  1668  and  1669, 
viz. :  to  John  Sacket,  John  Ingersoll,  Fyler,  Capt.  Cooke,  Josiah 
Dewey,  John  Osborne,  (the  latter  was  near  his  house),  Mr.  Fiske  and 
Thomas  Handchitt. 

A  grant  of  Sackett's  creek  was  also  made  to  Mr.  Whiting  and  Da- 
vid Ashley  to  set  a  mill  on  to  grind  corn,  and  the  land  about  it  for  a 
pasture  ;  and  for  their  encouragement  100  acres  for  them  to  choose  not 
less  than  three  miles  from  the  meeting-house. 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  making  these  extracts,  as  they  tend  to 
establish  the  opinion,  stated  in  the  address,  on  page  49,  in  reference  to 
the  progress  of  the  settlement  here,  at  the  time  of  the  incorporation  of 
the  town.  It  thus  appears  that  grants  were  made  to  34  persons,  and 
all  of  them  but  three,  are  elsewhere  named  in  the  records,  as  living 
here,  or  having  other  permanent  establishments. 

It  seems,  also,  that,  -in  January,  1667,  a  committee  of  seven  persons 
was  appointed  to  view  and  apportion  the  fencing,  &c.  We  should  con- 
sider this,  as  "  a  committee  of  the  whole,"  if  the  people  of  Woronoco 
were  not  more  numerous,  than  is  stated  by  Dr.  Davis  and  Dr.  Holland. 


REMONSTRANCE  OF  WESTFIELD  AGAINST  ORDER  TO 
ABANDON  THE  SETTLEMENT— APRIL  3,  1676. 

The  following  letter  is  the  one  referred  to  in  the  address,  from  the 
committee  of  the  town  of  Westfield,  in  reply  to  the  intimation  or  "  the 


APPENDIX.  125 

orders  in  council "  to  remove  from  town,  and  concentrate  the  popula- 
lation  of  the  vicinity,  at  Springfield.  The  copy  is  accurately  made  by 
Mr.  Pulsifer,  of  the  Secretary's  office. 

"  Westfeild  letter 
3  Aprill  Rec'd 
28  April!  '76  " 

Honrd  Oouncill :  We  Presume  a  Second  time  to  trouble  ye  Wor- 
ships with  a  few  lines,  ffor  having  cast  orselves,  upon  ye  Honored  Coun- 
sells  concerning  or  abiding  here,  or  removing  hence  &  for  that  End 
having  faithfully  represented  our  State  unto  you  we  were  in  Expecta- 
tion of  hearing  yr  advice.  But  at  last  perceiving  yr  thoughts  by  ye 
Order  you  gave  unto  Maj.  Generall  Savage  the  wch  in  pt  we  have  at- 
tended upon,  viz.,  to  gather  op  ye  mindes  of  or  town  respecting  or 
remoove  where  we  made  such  an  offer  as  this  to  any  that  should  come  to 
vs,  that  we  would  deny  orselves  to  accomodate  between  twenty  & 
thirty  families  of  or  Present  tillage  land  if  so  many  would  come  to 
vs  &  that  during  ye  continuance  of  ye  troubles  :  ye  which  in  a  town 
meeting  was  judged  by  all  .that  we  could  do ;  But  when  or  Com- 
mitee,  came  to  Consult  with  or  Neighbour  towns,  although  singly, 
&  apart  it  was  generally  thought  strange  that  Springfield  should  be 
judged  a  better,  &  more  Convenient  place  for  ffortification  than  West- 
field,  they  rather  was  silent,  or  moving  for  or  remove  to  Springfield, 
the  wch  was  &  is  altogether  against  or  inhabitants,  insomuch  that 
there  is  not  a  man  among  vs  hath  any  ye  least  inclination  to  remove 
that  way,  &  in  that  there  is  an  intimation  of  such  a  thing  in  yr  Honrd 
Order  to  ye  Generall,  as  if  Springfield  &c  :  was  fittest  for  ffortification, 
with  great  respect  vnto  ye  Information  we  cannot  but  take  ye  boldness 
as  to  intimate  ye  grounds  of  or  thoughts  to  ye  Contrary,  as,  1.  Its 
Situation  lying  on  both  sides  of  ye  great  River  Connecticut,  whose 
East  Side  is  voyd  of  habitations  being  but  a  very  few  left,  &  those  a 
great  distance  asunder  those  on  ye  West  side  being  scattered  above  a 
mile  up  &  down  some  of  which  are  hid  with  brambles,  &  as  for  its  til- 
lidge  ground  ye  most  being  a  great  distance  from  ye  town  &  not  clcare 
from  brush  in  some  places  of  it  &  to  it,  in  so  much  as  an  indifferent 
person  cannot  but  judge  (as  we  suppose)  yt  ye  Danger  is  double  in 
mannaging  ffield  imploym'nt :  to  what  ors  is.  2.  Its  Preparation,  It  is 
a  Place  (with  griefe  of  heart  be  it  spoken)  most  of  ye  East  side  in 
ashes,  vnbuilt  &  vnfortified  vnlese  some  few  houses.  3.  Its  Provi- 
dentiall  Dispensation.  It  hath  been  sorely  under  ye  blasting  hand  of 
God,  So  that  it  hath  but  in  a  lower  degree  than  ordinary  answered  ye 
labour  of  ye  Husbandman,  &  sometimes  his  labour  on  it  iswholely  cast 


126  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

away,  now  these  thoughts  are  very  discouraging  vnto  all  thoughts  of 
or  removall  thither,  for  to  remove  from  Habitations  to  none,  from  ffor- 
tifications  to  none,  from  a  Compact  and  plain  place  to  scatter'd,  from  a 
place  of  lease  danger  in  ye  ffield  to  ye  more,  from  a  place  under  ye  or- 
dinary Blessing  vpon  ovr  Labours  to  one  vsually  blasted,  seems  to  vs 
such  a  strange  thing  that  we  finde  not  a  man  amongst  vs  inclining  there- 
to, wherefore  being  by  ye  Honord  Councill  at  Hartford,  vpon  address 
for  strength  from  them,  yt  wth  their  own  necessities  could  not  dis- 
pence  with,  adviced  not  to  desert  ye  place  as  yet,  we  are  determined 
to  draw  in  or  out  Garrison  houses,  and  to  Contract  or  ffortification 
into  ye  Compass  of  about  70  rods  long,  ye  wich  or  thoughts  are 
to  ffortifie  strongly  and  to  keep  with  five  flankers,  and  for  this  end  ovr 
earnest  suit  is  that  you  would  allow  vs,  if,  it  may  bee  a  garrison  of 
thirty  souldiers,  we  are  not  without  hope  of  gaining  some  Corn  for  our 
families  as  yet.  But  if  you  cannot  allow  any,  then  or  present  thoughts 
are  that  if  we  cannot  have  a  safe  Convoy  from  ye  town  to  some  place 
downward,  it  is  judged  that  we  had  better  abide  here  in  or  ffortifica- 
tion thus  strengthened,  and  that  although  we  have  no  help  from  abroad, 
with  respect  to  or  own  safety  than  to  go  to  Springfield.  It  grieves 
vs  that  we  should  object  so  much  against  Springfield  for  ye  Worshipfull 
Maj'r  Pynchon's  sake,  But  we  judge  there  is  a  better  way  for  his  safety 
than  this,  &  although  we  would  do  much  for  his  sake,  yet  we  cannot 
adventure  on  this  ground  into  such  great  hazzard  as  appears.  Here 
are  some  young  men  with  vs  its  said  would  inlist  themselves  in  Coun- 
try service  to  garrison  if  they  could  be  admitted,  whom  necessity  will 
force  from  vs  if  it  cannot  be. 

Ffurthermore,  we  are  at  ye  Present  altogether  incapacitated  for  any 
removall,  by  reason  of  ye  awfull  hand  of  God  upon  us  in  Personall 
visitations,  for  here  came  a  souldier  sick  of  ye  Bloody  fflux,  and  dying 
amongst  vs  in  Capt.  Cook's  family,  hath  infected  ye  ffamily  therewith 
in  somuch  that  he  hath  lost  a  son  of  it,  his  Wife  lies  at  ye  point  of 
Death  his  youngest  son  is  very  weak  of  it,  and  he  him  selfe  is  almost 
brought  to  his  bed  by  it,  &  there  is  another  ffamily  in  his  house  hath  it. 
We  hope  yr  Worships  will  Pardon  or  teadiousness,  &  give  or  arguments 
a  Patient  hearing  for  surely  it  is  against  vs  to  say  as  we  do,  if  great  dan- 
ger did  not  stare  us  in  ye  fface.  The  Good  Lord  Sanctifie,  and  deliver 
vs.  We  remain 

Yr  Servants,  &  Suppliants 

in  the  name  of  the  Towne. 

ISAAC  PIIELPS, 
DAVID  ASULY, 
Westfield,  3,  2m.  1676,  JOSIAII  DEWKY. 


APPENDIX.  127 

We  had  a  garrison  all  winter  of  about  30  souldiers,  but  we  have  no 
incouragment  of  them,  &  many  are  withdrawn  &  all  of  them  Since 
yir  Capt,  is  returned  shew  hard  to  get  off  &  by  one  after  one  they 
are  come  almost  to  twenty,  &  we  cannot  have  any  promise,  nor 
incouragemnt  of  any. 


PETITION  FOR  A   GRANT   OF   THE  NEW  ADDITION,  6,000 
ACRES.    JANUARY  12,  1736. 

To  His  Excellency  Jonathan  Belcher,  Esq.,  Capt.  Generall  and 
Governor  within  &  over  his  Majestie's  Province  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  New  England,  the  Honorable  the  Council,  &  the  Honorable  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  Generall  Court  Assembled. 

The  Humble  Petition  of  Thomas  Ingersole,  Representative  of  the 
Town  of  of  Westfield,  Sheweth  : 

That  he  is  directed  by  his  principalls  the  Town  of  Westfield,  to  Shew 
to  your  Excellency  and  Honorrs,  that  the  Bounds  of  their  Town- 
ship West  &  North-westerly,  as  they  now  Stand,  are  to  the  Top  or 
ridge  of  the  mountain  which  is  verry  uncertain  In  that  in  some  places 
the  Top  or  Ridge  Can't  be  known.  In  some  other  places  the  Ridge 
or  Top  Is  a  Mile  West  of  the  Ridge  In  other  places  and  therefore  verry 
Crooked  and  uncertain.  Now  May  it  please  your  Excellency  and 
Honours  the  Case  so  Stands  that  the  Bounds  of  the  said  Town  of 
Westfield  may  be  made  Certain  By  Granting  to  the  Proprietors  of  said 
Town  the  Land  Between  said  Bounds  and  the  Township  granted  to 
the  proprietors  of  the  Town  of  Suffield  and  the  land  laid  out  to  the 
Heirs  of  James  Taylor  Esq  deceased  the  Land  contained  Between 
which  Bounds  is  about  six  Thousand  acres  and  is  in  some  places  a  mile 
and  Half  wide  and  in  some  places  but  a  few  Rods  and  then  your  Pe- 
titioners prays  they  may  Run  a  Line  from  the  South  West  Corner  of 
Northampton  town  bounds  to  the'  Nor  East  Corner  of  Suffield  proprie- 
tors bounds  then  going  a  Long  that  Township  Round  the  Land  laid  out 
to  said  Taylor's  heirs  to  the  South  East  Corner  bounds  and  then  run- 
ning a  Parralel  line  with  the  South  line  of  sd  proprietors  Township 
East  22  D  :  G.  south  to  the  said  Township  of  Westfield  the  Lands 
Contained  within  wich  is  very  broken  Land  fit  for  Nothing  else  but 
Herbage  now  your  Petitioners  has  these  reason  to  offer  to  enduce  this 
Honble  Court  to  grant  sd  Land. 

And  1  ye  Inhabitants  of  said  Town  are  settled  on  Intervel  Meadows 
and  there  is  almost  no  feeding  Land  In  said  Township  for  the  Cattle 
and  sheep  to  feed  on. 


128  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

21y  the  people  of  said  Town  have  alwayes  yed  Leved  frontcers  in  the 
West  part  of  this  Province  and  suffered  much  by  the  Indian  Wars. 

Sly  It  will  Render  the  Bounds  of  the  said  Town  Certain,  and  preju- 
dice no  Town  or  person. 

•ithly  the  Petitioners  Will  Engage  that  the  Grantee  shall  make  and 
maintain  for  Ever  a  Good  Cart  Way  where  the  Road  now  runs  or  near 
that  To  the  said  Township  Granted  of  the  proprieters  of  Suffield  which 
will  bo  a  Considerable  benefitt  to  the  publick  there  being  three  Towns 
Westward  now  Setled  or  Setling  and  four  more  Lately  Granted  west- 
ward to  be  Setled  In  a  Short  Space  which  Rode  is  the  publick  and 
Common  post  Rode  always  before  Used  to  Albany  And  your  Pettition 
Shall  as  In  Duty  Bound  Eaver  pray. 

THOMAS  INGEKSOLE. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  July  3d,  1736.  Read  and 
Ordered  that  the  prayer  of  the  petition  be  granted  and  the  Lands  therein 
delineated  and  described  be  and  hereby  are  accordingly  given  and  granted 
to  the  proprietors  of  the  said  town  of  Westfield  their  heirs  &  assigns 
respectively  provided  the  Grantees  do  forthwith  or  as  soon  as  may  be 
open  and  Constantly  keep  in  repair  hereafter  a  good  &  safe  Cart  way 
over  the  granted  premises  in  the  road  that  leads  from  Westfield  to 
Housatonnoc  commonly  called  the  Albany  Road  provided  also  this 
Grant  does  not  prejudice  the  grants  latety  made  and  laid  out  to  the 
Heirs  of  the  late  Treasurer  Mr  James  Taylor  deceased  at  the  pond 
called  tea  miles  pond,  the  said  Grantees  concluding  not  to  hold  the 
same,  but  it  is  to  be  esteemed  and  looked  upon  as  among  the  upper 
Housatonnoc  Equivalent;  and  also  that  part  of  the  Grant  of  seven 
hundred  acres  of  Land  to  the  heirs  of  the  late  Reverend  Mr  John 
Williams  of  Deerfield  deceased  which  may  or  does  fall  within  the  lines 
of  the  prayed  for  premises  according  to  the  plat  lately  passed  and  con- 
firmed by  this  Court ;  and  also  that  this  grant  does  not  exceed  the 
quantity  of  six  thousand  acres  of  Land  exclusive  of  the  said  provisos 
and  does  not  interfere  with  any  or  former  Grant.  C  Add- Provided 
also  That  the  Grantees  do,  as  soon  as  may  be,  lay  out  two  hundred 
Acres  of  the  granted  premises  for  the  present  minister  of  the  said 
Town  his  heirs  and  assigns,  two  hundred  acres  for  the  ministry  and  one 
hundred  acres  for  the  school  forever  and  return  a  Plat  of  the  Prem- 
ises and  the  Sequestrations  before  mentioned,  to  this  Court  within  twelve 
months  for  confirmation. 

Sent  up  for  Concurrence. 

J.  QUINCY,  Speaker. 


APPENDIX. 


129 


In  Council  January  12,  1736. 

Read  and  Concurred  with  the  amendment  at  C. 

Sent  down  for  Concurrence. 

J.    WlLLARD. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  January  12,  1736. 

Read  and  Concurred. 

J.  QUINCY,  Speaker. 

15.  Consented  to. 

J.  BELCHER. 
COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

SECRETARY'S  DEPARTMENT,      ) 
BOSTON,  September  25,  1869.  ) 

A  true  copy  from  Book  of  "  Ancient  Plans,  Grants,  &c.,"  vol.  3, 
page  99. 

Attest,  OLIVER  WARNER, 

Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Plat  returned  and  accepted  by  the  General  Court  June  10,  1737, 
5,879  acres. 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  OUTER-COMMONS,  JULY  10,  1731-2. 


Householders. 


Acres. 


Householders. 


Acres. 


John  Phelps,  .:  ...  285 
JobMoadsley,  .  .  .  .  .190 
David  Ashley,  Jr.,  .  .  .  230 

Dea.  Shepard, 375 

Jona.  Shepard,       ....     29 

John  Shepard,  Jr 38 

Joseph  Dewey,      .     .     .     .109 

David  Noble, 38 

James  Noble, 38 

Jed.  Dewey 's  heirs,  .  .  .122 
Nehemi  Loomas,  .  .  .  .187 

Benj.  Loomas, 15 

Nathaniel  Bancroft,    .     .     .163 

John  Ponder 55 

Capt.  Ashley, 515 

Deliverance  Church's  heirs,  .     48 

David  King, 72 

John  Bancroft,       .     .     .     .215 

John  Gunn, 265 

Jonathan  Ashley 413 

17 


David  Dewey, 69 

Charles  Dewey,     ....     69 

Isaac  Dewey, 49 

Ensign  Kellogg's  heirs,  .     .185 

Joseph  Sacket, 91 

Samuel  Bush's  heirs,  .     .     .  145 

Thomas  Gunn, 58 

Matthew  Noble 125 

Joseph  Root, 206 

Samuel  Lee, 89 

Mark  Warner's  wife,  ...  40 
Joshuah  Root's  heirs, .  .  .159 

James  Saxton 149 

Ebenezer  King,  ....  89 
Widow  Mary  King's  heirs,  .  49 

EliasWeller 219 

Abiah  Williams 30 

Nathaniel  Williams,  .  .  .199 
Heirs  of  Nathaniel  Williams,  99 
John  Sacket,  Sen 324 


130 


WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 


Householders.  Acres. 

John  Root, 187 

Moses  Root 144 

Benony  Sacket,  ....  81 
Thomas  Ashley,  .  .  .  .173 
Rev.  Mr.  Bull,  ....  36 
David  Moadsley,  ....  399 

Samuel  Root, 139 

Consider  Moadsley,     .     .     .  324 

Aaron  Gunn, 298 

Daniel  Gunn 163 

Stephen  Kellogg,  .  .  .  .298 
James  Dewey,  .  .  .  .149 

John  Fowler,  Jr 190 

Abraham  Fowler,  ....     55 

Jacob  Fowler, 40 

Isaac  Fowler, 99 

John  Lee, 187 

John  King's  heirs,      ...     54 

Thomas  Ponder 64 

Samuel  Loomas,  .  .  .  .159 
John  Moadsley,  ....  384 
Thomas  Handchet,  ...  99 
William  Sacket,  ....  199 
Samuel  Sacket,  ....  80 
William  Loomas,  .  .  .  .125 

Dea.  Ashley, 287 

Isaac  Phelps, 89 

Aaron  Phelps, 49 

Ebenezer  Bush,  .  .  .  .199 
Samuel  Fowler,  Jr.,  .  .  .  173 
Samuel  Handchet,  .  .  .182 
Nathaniel  Phelps,  .  .  .  .37 
Jonathan  Fowler,  .  .  .  .199 


Householders.  Acres 

Deacon  Noble 200 

Thomas  Noble, 79 

Edward  Martindale,  ...  86 
Thomas  Pixley's  heirs,  .  .  89 

Samuel  Noble, 76 

Thomas  Dewey,     .     .     .     .125 

Daniel  Bagg, 174 

Daniel  Bagg,  Jr.,  ...  84 
Sargeant  Luke  Noble,  .  .155 

Mark  Noble, 199 

Benjamin  Sexton,  ....  62 
Heirs  of  Eben  Pixley,  .  .  50 
Thomas  Ingersol,  .  .  .  .135 
James  Ashley,  .  .  .  .163 
Luke  Noble,  Jr.,  ....  98 
Captain  Dewey,  .  .  .  .174 
Abijah  Dewey,  ....  69 
Haines  Kinsley,  .  .  .  .265 

Abel  Cadwill 30 

Nathaniel  Lee,  ....  49 
Samuel  Fowler,  Jr.,  .  .  .  299 

Daniel  Old, 10 

Samuel  Kellogg 40 

Isaac  Stiels, 30 

Ephraim  Stiels,  ....  20 
Nathaniel  Ponder,  ...  60 
Samuel  Bush,  Sr.,  ...  60 

Ransford  Old 20 

Israel  Dewey's  heirs,  ...     98 

Joseph  Taylor, 98 

Jonathan  Phelps 98 

Samuel  Old, 12 

Eldad  Taylor, 265 


January  28,  1733-4.  It  was  voted  "  to  divide  the  rest  of  the  land 
in  the  inner-commons,  which  is  not  disposed  of  in  said  scheeme,"  ex- 
cepting what  land  is  given  to  Sundary  persons  by  way  of  Charraty, 
which  are  as  followeth. 

Householders.  Acres.  Householders.  Acres. 

Rev.  Mr.  Bull,      ....     10     Phillips  Freeman 10 

Matthew  Noble,     .     .     .     .     10     Joseph  Egliston,    ....     10 


APPENDIX. 


131 


Householders.  Acres. 

John  Hains,     .     .  20 

Ephraim  Stiels,     ....  10 

Isaac  Stiles, 10 

HanfordOld 10 

Daniel  Old, 10 

ElishaOld, 10 

Nathaniel  Lee,  Sen.,  ...  20 

Nathaniel  Lee,  Jr.,     .     .     .  10 

Daniel  Granger,     .     .     .     .  10 


Householders.  Acres. 

Nathaniel  Egliston,  Jr.,   .     .  10 

John  Root,  Jr.,      ....  10 

Charles  Cootses'  heirs,     .     .  10 

Thomas  Gunn, 15 

Aron  Phelps, 10 

Daniel  Noble, 10 

Jonathan  Phelps,    .     .     .     .  10 

Thomas  Ponder,     ....  10 

Thomas  Handchit,       ...  10 


Jonah  Stiels, 5 

At  the  same  meeting,  January  28,  1733-4,  on  a  report  of  a  com- 
mittee, the  inner-commons  were  allotted  at  the  rate  of  "  2-acres  of  land 
to  one  £  real  estate,  and  the  List  is  as  folio weth :  " 

Householders.  Acres.  Householders.  Acres. 


Job  Moadsley, 58 

Lieut.  Phelps 57 

David  Ashley,  Jr ,40 

Noah  Ashley,    ...     .     .     .  15 

John  Shepard,  Jr 10 

Joseph  Dewey,      .     .     .     .  34 

Jude  Dewey's  heirs,    ...  12 

John  Pondor, 12 

Nehemiah  Loomas,      ...  43 

Nathaniel  Bancroft,     ...  33 

Benjamin  Loomis,      ...  03 

Deacon  Shepard 68 

Captain  Ashley,     .     .     .     .100 

Widow  Church,     ....  12 

John  Gunn,     .     .     .     .     .  55 

John  Bancroft,      ....  43 

Lieut.  Ashley, 83 

John  Root,  Sen.,  ....  37 

David  King 12 

Steephon  Nash 05 

Thomas  Ashley,     ....  35 

Ensine  Moadsley,  ....  90 

Samuel  Root, 29 

Lieut.  Moadsley,  ....  68 

Aaron  Gunn 62 

Thomas  Gunn, 05 


Samuel  Loomis,     ....  38 

Thomas  Pondor,     ....  09 

John  Lee, 26 

Isaac  Fowler, 21 

Aron  Phelps 14 

Samuel  Fowler,  2d,    .     .     .  74 

Daniel  Old, 04 

Nathaniel  Lee 10 

Jonathan  Phelps 14 

Jonathan  Shephard,    ...  15 

Joshua  Loomas,     .     .     .     .  10 

Samuel  Kellogg,    ....  30 

Isaac  Stiels, 10 

Ephraim  Stiels,      ....  02 

Nathaniel  Pondor,       ...  20 

William  Loomas 40 

Benoni  Sacket 07 

Edward  Martindale,    ...  10 

Adijah  Dewey 28 

Noah  Pixley, 14 

Thomas  Dewey,      ....  28 

Daniel  Bagg, 55 

s  Daniel  Bagg,  Jr.,       ...  17 

Ministree  Land 12 

Daniel  Noble 16 

Sargeant  Luke  Noble,      .     .  35 


132 


WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 


Householders.  Acres. 

Daniel  Gunn, 83 

Ensino  Taylor, 52 

Stephen  Kellogg,  ....  83 

James  Dewey 31 

John  Fowler,  Jr 88 

Abraham  Fowler 17 

Jacob  Fowler, 11 

Samuel  Lee, 23 

Joseph  Root, 41 

Matthew  Noble,     ....  32 

John  Root  heirs,    ....  30 

Samuel  Bushe's  2d,  heirs,     .  30 

Joseph  Sacket,      .     .     .     .  26 

Jona  Fowler 43 

Ensine  Kellogg's  heirs,   .     .  37 

David  Dewey, 29 

Samuel  Handchit, ....  34 

Samuel  Fowler,  Sen.,      .     .  40 

Nathaniel  Phelps,       .     .  14 

Ebenezer  Bush 40 

Deacon  Ashley,     .     .     .     .  70 

Isaac  Phelps, 18 

William  Sacket,    ....  44 

Samuel  Sacket,      .     .     .     .  15 

Moses  Root, 36 

Thomas  Handchit,      ...  27 

John  Moadsley,               .     .  79 


Householders.  Acres. 

Abel  Cadwill, 06 

Hains  Kinsley,       ....  53 

Capt.  Dewey, 81 

Luke  Noble,  Jr.,   ....  16 

James  Ashley, 16 

John  Ingersol, 29 

Lieut.  Ingersol,      ....  62 

James  Noble, 14 

Mark  Noble, 40 

Benjamin  Sexton,  .     .     .     .  12 

Deacon  Noble 29 

Israel  Noble, 11 

Thomas  Noble, 24 

Nathaniel  Williams,  ...  40 
Sargeant  Sacket,  .  .  32-10 
John  Sacket,  Jr.,  .  .  .  16—5 
Daniel  Sacket,  ....  16-5 

Nathaniel  Williams'  heirs,    .  10 

Abial  Williams 06 

Sargeant  Weller,    ....  47 

Eber  King, 25 

James  Sexton, 27 

James  Sexton,  Jr.,      ...  07 

Elijah  Pixley 12 

Israel  Dewey's  heirs,  ...  27 

John  King's  heirs,      .     .     .  18 

William  Cark's  heirs,       .     .  16 


"PORTING"  THE  TOWN. 

COPY   OP   A   VOTE,    APRIL   27,    1747. 

"  At  a  legal  town  meeting  April  27,  1747,  Opt.  Thos.  Ingersole 
;  was  chosen  moderator  for  sd  meeting  at  the  same  meeting  it  was  voted 
'to  Choose  a  Committy  to  Consider  what  measures  to  take  about  fort- 
!ing  the  Town,  it  was  voted  that  the  Commission  Officers  and  the 
'Selectmen  and  Doctor  Ashley  shall  be  the  Committy  to  see  what 
'  measures  and  what  houses  Should  be  forted  and  to  make  Report  to  the 
'  town  what  is  best  to  be  done  :  att  the  same  meeting  it  was  voted  to 
'pay  a  scout  that  may  be  sent  by  the  Commission  officers  out  after  the 
'  discovery  of  the  enemy  if  the  province  will  not  pay  them :  at  the 


APPENDIX.  133 

"same  meeting  it  was  voted  that  the  Select-men  should  be  empowered 
"to  provide  a  Schoolmaster  untill  the  first  day  of  April  1748.  this 
"meeting  was  voted  to  be  continued  by  adjournment  untill  Monday 
"  next  the  4.  day  of  May :  the  town  met  at  the  time  adjourned  to  and 
"  the  Committy  Reported  to  the  town  that  they  were  determined  it  was 
"  best  to  make  a  fort  Round  Stephen  Kelloggs  house  and  Lieut  Con- 
"sider  Mosleys  and  Doct.  Ashley  house  and  one  over  the  Little  River 
"and  one  over  the  great  River  and  two  watch  boxes  and  to  be  done  by 
"the  town." 

The  "Doctor  Ashley  house,"  spoken  of  in  the  above  vote,  was  situ- 
ated in  Silver  Street  at  the  south  end  of  Noble  Street,  on  the  site  of 
William  Atkins'  house.  The  building  has  been  razed  within  a  few 
years,  to  make  room  for  a  modern  structure.  The  base  of  the  second 
story  projected  over  the  top  of  the  first  story,  and  the  walls  were  forti- 
fied against  musket-balls.  The  fort-houses  were  situated  in  positions 
convenient  for  the  refuge  of  the  inhabitants,  in  case  of  a  hostile  attack. 
The  old  Ingersoll  house,  now  standing  over  Little  River,  is  said  to  have 
been  the  one  which  was  fortified,  or  "forted." 


PRICES  OF  ARTICLES  AND  LABOR,  AS  ESTABLISHED,  1777. 
The  prices  of  the  several  articles  hereafter  mentioned,  stated  accord- 
ing to  an  act  of  the  General  Court  of  the  State  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay,  by  the  Selectmen  and  Committee  of  Correspondence  of  the  Town 
of  Westfield,  March  26,  1777. 

£    s.     d. 

Wheat,  good  merchantable  wheat  at  6*  per  bushel,  060 

Rye,  good  and  merchantable  at  4s.  per  bushel,  040 

Indian  Corn,  good  and  merchantable  at  3s.  per  bushel,          030 
Oats,  good  and  merchantable  at  2s.  per  bushel,  020 

Wool,  good  sheep's  wool  and  washed  at  2s.  3d.  per  lb.,         023 
Pork,  fresh  pork  under  180  Ibs.,  at  3|c?.  per  lb.,  0     0     3£ 

Pork,  fresh,  from  180  to  280  Ibs.,  at  4rf.  per  lb.,  004 

Pork,  fresh,  above  280  Ibs.,  at  4±d.,  0-0     4£ 

Pork,  salt  and  good,  at  86s.  per  barrel,  460 

Beef,  salt  and  good,  at  68s.  per  barrel,  380 

Beef,  good  stall  fed  beef,  at  4c?.,  per  lb.,  004 

Beef,  good  grass  fed  beef,  at  3rf.  per  lb.,  003 

Hides,  green  hides,  at  3d.  per  lb.,  003 

Calf-skins,  green,  at  6d.  per  lb.,  006 

Salt,  good,  at  20s.  per  bushel,  100 

Rum,  West  India,  rum,  at  9s.  per  gallon,  090 


134  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

£    s.    d. 

Rum,  West  India  rum  by  the  quart,  at  2s.  Qd.,  026 

Rum,  New  England,  at  6*.  per  gallon,  060 

Rum,  New  England  by  the  quart,  Is.  9e?.,  019 

Sugar,  good  Muscovada  sugar,  at  70s  per  hundred,  3  10     0 

Sugar,  per  single  lb.,  lOrf.  0     0  10 

Molasses,  good,  at  5s.  4rf.  per  gallon,  054 

Chocolate,  good,  at  2s.  4e?.  per  lb.,  024 

Cheese,  good,  at  Qd.  per  lb.,  006 
Peas  and  Beans,  good  and  merchantable,  at  7*.  per  bushel,  070 
Potatoes,  at  Is.  Qd.  in  the  Fall  and  2s.  in  the  Spring, 

Stockings,  good  men's  stockings,  at  7s.  per  pair,  070 

Shoes,  best  men's  shoes,  at  9s.  per  pair,  090 

Shoes,  women's  of  the  best  sort,  at  7s.  Qd.  per  pair,  076 

Making  a  pair  of  men's  shoes,  at  4s.  per  pair,  0     4-0 

Cotton  Wool,  good  cotton  wool,  at  4s.  Qd.  per  lb.,  046 

Flax,  good  and  well  dressed,  at  Is.  per  lb.,  010 

Coffee,  at  Is.  Qd.  per  lb.,  016 

Tallow,  cleaned  and  tried,  at  9rf.  per  lb.,  009 

Tow  Cloth,  at  2s.  Qd.  per  yard — yard  wide,  026 

Other  tow  cloth  in  proportion. 

Flannel — yard  wide,  at  3s.  Qd.  per  yard,  036 

Oak  Wood,  at  8s.  per  cord,  080 

Charcoal,  at  25s.  per  one  hundred  bushels,  150 

Sole  Leather,  at  Is.  5rf.  per  lb.,  015 
Curried  Leather,  usual  proportion,  at 

Mutton,  Lamb  and  Veal,  at  3d  003 

Wheat  Flour,  at  18s.  per  hundred,  018     0 

English  Hay,  at  4s.  per  hundred,  040 

Keeping  a  Horse,  Is.  Qd.  per  night  and  day  by  hay,  016 

Team  work  with  four  cattle,  8s.  per  day,  080 

Plowing  by  the  acre,  at  6s.  Qd.,  066 

White  Pine  Boards,  at  50s.  per  thousand,  2  10     0 

Yellow  Pine  Floor  Boards,  at  50s.  per  thousand,  210     0 

Reaping  and  Mowing,  at  3s.  Sd.  per  acre,  038 

Common  Labor,  at  3s.  per  day,  030 

Farming  Labor,  53s.  for  six  months,  2  13     0 

Weaving  common  tow  cloth,  at  Sd.  per  yard,  008 

Other  weaving  in  proportion. 

Cooper's  Labor,  at  4s.  Qd.  for  good  heart  bbls.,  046 

For  Meal  of  Victuals,  Is.,  010 


APPENDIX.  135 

£    s.    d. 

Felt  Hats,  at  8s.,  080 

Shoeing  a  Horse  and  corking  round,  at  8s.,  080 

Shoeing  a  pair  of  Cattle,  at  12s.,  0  12     0 

Horse  hiring,  at  3«?.  per  mile,  003 

Flip,  at  Is.  per  mug,  010 

Tobacco,  at  Gd.  per  lb.,  006 

Cider  on  the  Lees,  at  20s.  per  bbl.,  100 

Cyder,  at  Qd.  per  mug,  006 

Good  Hunting  Saddles,  at  60s.,  300 

Butter  until  the  first  of  June,  at  Wd.  per  lb.,  0     0  10 

and  until  the  first  of  November,  Sd.,  per  lb.,  008 
Good  Common  Saddles  in  proportion  to  Hunting, 

Good  Bridles,  at  8s.,  080 

Salt  Pork,  at  9d.,  per  lb.  009 

A  true  copy  from  the  original  records. 

Attest,  R.  B.  ROBINSON,  Town  Clerk. 


THE  INUNDATION. 

We  clip  the  account  of  the  bi-centennial  storm  from  The  Western 
Hampden  Times.  It  gives  some  additional  facts,  beyond  those  which 
we  have  stated  already.  But  no  language  can  express  the  disappoint- 
ment and  regret,  which  its  occurrence  occasioned. 

The  rain  storm,  commenced  about  two  o'clock,  Sunday  morning, 
and  continued  until  two  o'clock  p.  m.,  on  Monday,  swelling  the  river 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  break  the  levee,  constructed  many  years 
ago,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the 
town  from  inundations.  The  ringing  of  bells  announced  the  fact  to 
the  citizens,  and  men,  representing  all  trades  and  professions,  armed 
with  shovels,  were  seen  hurrying  to  the  scene  of  danger,  with  the  hope 
of  saving  their  property  and  possibly  their  lives.  They  worked  bravely 
and  manfully,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  and  a  few  minutes  before  three 
o'clock  the  levee  opened  in  two  places,  and  in  less  than  30  minutes 
nearly  all  that  part  of  the  town  west  of  the  N.  &  N.  H.  Railroad,  and 
north  of  Court  street,  including  Orange,  N.  Maple,  Franklin,  Kellogg, 
Summer,  Spring,  Hampden,  School,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  parts  of 
Washington,  Church,  Arnold,  King  and  West  School  streets  were 
submerged,  cellars  filled,  and  many  of  the  inhabitants  driven  to  the  sec- 
ond story  of  their  dwellings. 

The  flood  being  checked  on  the  east,  by  the  embankment  of  the  rail- 


136  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

road,  it  followed  the  course  of  the  town  brook,  crossed  Elm  street,  filled 
the  basement  of  Rand,  Lewis  &  Rand's  Whip  Factory,  carrying  away  a 
portable  picture  gallery  that  was  in  the  vicinity  of  the  factory,  and  deposit- 
ing it  on  the  embankment  of  the  railroad.  A  culvert  of  the  road  in  the 
rear  of  the  factory  being  insufficient  to  let  the  water  pass,  it  washed  away 
the  embankment  on  either  side,  leaving  nothing  but  the  rails  and  sleepers. 

The  breaking  of  the  culvert  increased  the  volume  of  water  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  wash  out  Mechanic  street  below  the  bed  of  the  brook, 
leaving  a  chasm  about  40  feet  wide ;  undermining  the  Van  Deusen 
Whip  Factory,  several  private  dwellings,  and  flooding  many  others,  be- 
fore it  reached  its  natural  course  east  of  the  village.  During  this  time, 
and  while  the  citizens  were  congratulating  each  other  that  probably  the 
worst  was  over,  the  water  broke  through  the  embankment  of  the  rail- 
road on  Orange  street,  flooding  the  basement  of  Johnson's  Organ  Fac- 
tory, and  rushing  like  a  mountain  torrent  down  Elm  street,  filling  cel- 
lars, carrying  away  lumber,  fences,  small  buildings,  and  everything 
movable  that  chanced  to  be  in  its  way.  Before  reaching  the  river,  east 
of  the  bridge,  it  washed  away  the  south-west  corner  of  the  basement 
story  of  Steer  &  Turner's  Organ  Factory. 

It  will  take  weeks  and  perhaps  months  before  the  damage  done  to 
property  and  thoroughfares  can  be  repaired.  Fortunately  no  lives  were 
lost.  Many  families,  however,  were  in  imminent  danger,  but  were  res- 
cued by  means  of  boats  and  wagons. 

The  pupils  of  the  normal  and  some  of  the  public  schools  had  to  be 
conveyed  to  their  home  by  this  means.  A  party  of  citizens  had  col- 
lected on  the  railroad  between  Orange  street  and  Great  river,  and  be- 
fore they  were  aware  of  it,  they  were  surrounded  by  water  and  were 
compelled  to  remain  in  that  position  until  the  flood  subsided. 

Competent  judges  have  estimated  the  individual  loss  to  be  about 
$30,000,  and  the  loss  to  the  town,  railroad,  and  gas  incorporations  about 
$30,000  more,  making  the  total  loss  about  $60,000. 


Letters  of  regret  for  inability  to  attend  were  received  from  the  fol- 
lowing persons ;  some  of  which  we  extract  from,  or  copy,  our  space 
limiting  a  more  extended  notice  : 

Joshua  Atwater,  Edwardsville,  111. ;  Henry  Day,  Indianapolis,  Ind. ; 
W.  H.  Wadsworth,  Cleveland,  0. ;  William  R.  Morley,  Taylorsville  ; 
Mrs.  Esther  A.  French,  Lansing,  Mich. ;  Samuel  F.  Lyman,  North- 
ampton; Hon.  Oliver  Warner,  Sec'y,  Boston;  Charles  W.  Mose- 
ley,  Onondaga,  N.  Y. ;  Hon.  R.  A.  Chapman,  Chief  Justice,  Mon- 
son;  William  King,  Martinsboro,  N.  Y. ;  James  Sheldon,  Brooklyn, 


APPENDIX.  137 

N.  Y. ;  Royal  Phelps,  Newport,  R.  I. ;  Henry  T.  Morgan,  New  York ; 
Homer  Morgan,  New  York;  0.  Allen,  Columbus,  0.;  John  Davis, 
Mich.;  Mrs.  C.  Gibbons,  Russell;  J.  H.  Talmadge,  New  York 
City;  H.  W.  Gillett,  Sedalia,  Mo. ;  F.  D.  Cossitt,  Chicago;  Roland 
Mather,  Hartford ;  Rev.  Hiram  Bingham,  New  Haven ;  Mrs.  Cath- 
erine M.  Foote,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  E.  Ballentine,  Blooming- 
ton,  la. ;  Daniel  Richards,  Watertown,  Mass.  ;  Mr.  &  Mrs.  Porter 
Smith,  Quincy,  111. ;  Rev.  John  Alden,  Providence,  R.  I. ;  Hon.  James 
T.  Robinson,  North  Adams ;  Hon.  John  G.  Palfrey,  Cambridge ; 
Prof.  George  W.  Benedict,  Burlington,  Vt. ;  James  B.  Metcalfe,  New 
York  City ;  Henry  W.  Taylor,  Canandaigua,  N.  Y. ;  0.  R.  Ingersoll, 
New  York  City ;  Joseph  D.  Bates,  New  York  City ;  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
King  Day,  Oakland,  Cal.  ;  Hon.  A.  S.  Porter,  Niagara;  Rev.  Dr. 
Orville  Dewey,  Sheffield;  D.  D.  Erving,  Hartford;  Henry  Terry, 
Santa  Rosa,  Cal. ;  S.  B  Hadley,  Rockdale;  A.  S.  Nash,  Corry ;  Harvey 
Fowler,  Margaretta,  0. ;  William  L.  Atwater,  New  York  City ;  Rev. 
Dr.  Henry  M.  Dexter,  Boston;  Rev.  Hiram  Smith,  Hinsdale. 

There  were,  besides,  warm,  and  fervent  letters  from  former  citizens 
in  different  parts  of  the  country,  expressive  of  their  approbation  of  the 
proposed  celebration,  and  of  a  determination  to  be  present.  Many  of 
them,  however,  were  prevented  by  the  great  inundation,  and  others  by 
divers  untoward  circumstances.  We  annex  a  partial  list, — imperfect, 
inasmuch  as,  in  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  the  time,  many  of  them 
were  lost  or  mislaid. 

It  was  gratifying  to  receive  these  expressions  of  good  will,  from  those,, 
who  had  been  so  long  absent ;  and  it  was  doubly  so  to  press  the  hands 
of  those  early  emigrants  from  distant  homes,  who  had  made  such  long 
pilgrimages  to  the  old  home  of  their  birth. 

Among  the  numbers  who  arrived  here,  and  participated  in  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  occasion,  were  the  persons,  whose  names  we  insert  below. 
It  was  with  a  sincere  regret,  that  Mrs.  West,  the  daughter  of  the  ven- 
erable Joshua  Atwater  of  Edwardsville,  111.,  who,  with  her  husband, 
at  the  request  of  her  father,  of  the  age  of  ninety-four  years,  had  trav- 
eled as  far  as  Pittstield,  should  have  been  left  in  a  car  at  that  place, 
by  a  neglect  of  the  corporation,  and  thus  debarred  from  the  pleasures, 
they  had  traveled  so  far  to  enjoy. 

We  were  more  than  gratified  that  others,  who  were  also  left,  obtained 
other  means  of  conveyance  for  portions  of  the  intervening  distance,  and 
by  fording  streams,  where  the  bridges  had  been  swept  away,  and  by 
long  and  weary  miles  of  travel  on  foot,  were  enabled  to  participate  iu 
a  portion  of  the  exercises. 
18 


138  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

It  should  also  be  remarked  as  peculiarly  unfortunate,  that  the  assem- 
bly were  debarred  the  hearing,  from  so  many  of  the  guests  present  at 
the  dinner,  a  few  remarks,  at  least,  expressive  of  their  feelings  upon 
the  occasion.  Coming  from  distant  parts  of  this  great  country,  and 
meeting  here,  upon  a  jubilee,  the  like  of  which  can  never  again  hap- 
pen, with  their  old  kinsmen,  and  the  denizens  of  the  town,  it  would  have 
been  a  pleasure  to  us  to  have  heard  them  speak,  and  a  pleasure  to  them 
to  have  spoken.  Many  of  them  were  prepared  to  speak,  and  they 
were  persons  of  the  ability  to  do  it  well.  It  seemed,  indeed,  a  sort  of 
rudeness,  to  close  the  proceedings,  without  calling  upon  them  to  respond. 
When  it  was  too  late  to  amend,  we  saw,  and  regretted  the  mistake.  The 
obvious  apology  for  us,  did  not  cover  the  whole  error.  The  unexampled 
inundation,  the  delay  of  trains,  the  belated  convocation  of  the  guests, 
and  the  consequent  uncertainty,  which,  for  a  short  time,  retarded  the 
proceedings,  and  the  chilliness  and  dampness  of  the  air  in  the  tent,  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  afternoon,  were  causes  for  the  early  dispersion  of 
the  company.  But  the  original  and  great  cause  arose  from  crowding  all 
the  proceedings  into  one  short  autumn  day  !  We  should  have  devoted 
two  days  to  it !  One  day,  at  least,  for  each  century  was  reasonably  de- 
manded ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  second  day,  after  the  allowance  of  am- 
ple time  for  hearing,  seeing,  renewing  old  acquaintances,  forming  new 
ones,  reviving  the  memories  of  old  times,  in  social  converse,  and  in  the 
formation  of  new  resolutions  for  future  social  relations,  our  friends  would 
have  realized,  more  impressively,  the  true  enjoyment  of  this  re-union 
with  their  kindred.  But,  alas,  it  is  too  late  to  repair  the  past !  We, 
however,  suggest  to  our  descendants,  who  may  be  living  here  at  the  close 
of  the  nest  century,  to  read  over  the  present  volume,  which  we  trust 
some  of  them  will  find  among  the  old  and  valued  volumes  of  their  libra- 
ries, or  in  the  library  of  the  town,  and,  certainly  in  the  alcoves  of  the 
ever-enduring  Athenaeum,  and,  warned  by  our  mistakes,  devote  an* am- 
ple time  to  their  centennial  anniversary, — the  tri-centennial  celebration 
of  the  incorporation  of  Westfield. 


Letters  of  acceptance  of  those,  who  expressed,  either  briefly  or  in  ex- 
tenso  their  intention  to  be  present,  were  the  following  persons ;  and  we 
insert  in  the  list  from  memory,  a  number  who  were  present  from  distant 
residences. 

Mrs.  Atwater  West,  Edwardsville,  111.,  and  E.  M.  West,  her  husband  ; 
Frederick  Sacket,  Esq.,  Chicago  ;  Joseph  W.  King,  Jacksonville,  111. ; 
Reuben  King,  Chicago,  111. ;  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  R.  Ely,  Roslyn,  L.  I. ; 
Horatio  E.  Day,  Hartford,  Ct. ;  Hon.  Calvin  Day,  Hartford,  Ct. ;  Hon. 


APPENDIX.  139 

Albert  Day,  Hartford,  Ct. ;  Henry  W.  Bates,  New  York  City ;  Mrs. 
Mary  A.  Warner,  Waterloo,  N.  Y. ;  Miss  Jane  Ingersoll,  Springfield  ; 
Maj.  Edward  Ingersoll,  U.  S.  Armory,  Springfield  ;  Stephen  Douglass, 
Greenwich,  Mass. ;  Jeremiah  Douglass,  Greenwich,  Mass. ;  A .  M. 
Drake,  Brighton;  George  Stowe,  New  York  City;  E.  V.  B.  Holcomb, 
Chicopee  Falls ;  F.  E.  Merriman,  Boston  ;  Hon.  H.  G.  Knight,  East 
Hampton;  Hon.  John  B.  Eldredge,  Hartford;  Mrs.  Mary  F.  Davis,  New 
Britain,  Ct. ;  Charles  Peck,  New  Britain,  Ct.  ;  L.  S.  Smith,  Albany; 
Caleb  Alden  and  wife,  Springfield  ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  Munson,  Albany ; 
John  Hastings,  Hartford ;  John  C.  Atwater,  New  York  City ,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  William  H.  Atwater,  New  York  City;  Henry  Talmadge,  New 
York  City;  Edward  Hooker,  New  York  City;  Edward  Taylor,  Andover ; 
Jona.  Taylor,  Andover ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B.  L.  Spear,  West  Suffield,  Ct. ; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Joseph  Langdon,  Hartford,  Ct. ;  D.  B.  Moseley,  editor 
Religious  Herald,  Hartford,  Ct. ;  E.  W.  Moseley,  Hartford  Ct. ;  Mrs. 
J.  Kent,  Suffield,  Ct. ;  P.  Atwater  and  family,  Suffield,  Ct. ;  J.  R.  Rand, 
New  York  City ;  Rev.  G.  Haven,  Boston ;  H.  K.  Noble,  Northamp- 
ton ;  Rev.  H.  Beebe,  New  Haven,  Ct. ;  A.  F.  Hastings,  New  York 
City ;  John  B.  Bancroft,  Ballston  Spa,  N.  Y. ;  Thomas  Ely,  New  Bed- 
ford ;  R.  Bancroft,  Albany ;  Mrs.  Mary  G.  Colt  and  family,  Pittsfield  ; 
B.  B.  Hastings,  New  York  City ;  W.  Hudson  Stephens,  Lowville,  N.  Y. ; 
R.  C.  Rice,  West  Meriden,  Ct. ;  Francis  Douglass,  Worcester;  A.  R. 
Parsons,  Free  Press,  Northampton ;  Charles  A.  Chapman,  Suffield  ; 
William  Ely,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. ;  George  W.  Fowler,  Carbondale,  Pa. ; 
Cyrus  D.  Noble,  Northampton ;  Rev.  William  G.  W.  Lewis,  Pough- 
keepsie ;  Rev.  Ephraim  Scott,  Heath ;  Rev.  Perkins  K.  Clark,  Mittin- 
eaque;  Enoch  Clark,  Ohio;  Rev.  John  Cad  well,  South  Deerfield  ;  Wil- 
liam Stowe,  Springfield  ;  Alfred  C.  Hobbs,  Bridgeport,  Ct. ;  William 
B.  Pettis  and  family,  Troy,  N.  Y. ;  Linus  Noble,  Northampton ;  Wil- 
liam C.  Goldthwaite,  Longmeadow. 


Mr.  West,  the  writer  of  the  following  is  the  son-in-law  of  Mr. 
Joshua  Atwater ;  and,  with  his  wife,  was  present  at  a  late  part  of  the 
celebration,  the  car  in  which  they  were  traveling,  having  been  left  at 
Pittsfield : 

EDWARDSVILLE,  ILL.,  Sept.  21,  1869. 
WILLIAM  G.  BATES,  ESQ., 

Chairman   Committee  on  Invitation,   Westfield,  Mass. 
DEAR  SIR  :     By  request  of  Mr.  Joshua  Atwater,  I  write  to  express 
to  you  his  pleasure  in  receiving  your  invitation  to  attend  and  partici- 


140  WESTFIELD   BI -CENTENNIAL. 

pate  in  the  exercises  at  the  bi-centennial  celebration  of  the  incorpora- 
tion of  Westfield,  his  native  town,  and  to  say  that  nothing  could  afford 
him  more  pleasure  than  to  be  present  on  that  interesting  occasion,  and 
to  renew  his  acquaintance  with  the  friends  and  home  of  his  youth.  He 
fears,  however,  that  infirmities  attending  his  advanced  age,  (being  in 
his  ninety-fourth  year,)  are  such  as  make  the  journey  too  great  for  him 
to  undertake. 

He  desires  to  express  to  your  committee,  and  to  all  who  may  attend 
on  that  occasion  his  best  wishes  and  cordial  greetings. 
Very  respectfully, 

E.  M.  WEST. 

LETTER  FROM  HON.  R.  A.  CHAPMAN,  CHIEF  JUSTICE 
SUPREME  JUDICIAL  COURT. 

MONSON,  Oct.  4,  1869. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  received  the  invitation  of  your  committee,  and 
your  own  private  invitation  to  be  present  at  your  celebration  and  go  to 
your  house.  I  desire  to  be  there  quite  as  strongly  as  you  can  possibly 
desire  to  see  me.  During  my  brief  residence  in  Westfield,  some  forty 
years  ago,  I  formed  some  acquaintances  that  I  have  always  valued 
highly,  yourself  being  at  the  head  of  the  list,  and  I  have  not  lost  my 
interest  in  the  place.  What  a  growth  the  town  has  had  in  these  forty 
years, — not  merely  in  population  and  wealth,  but  in  intelligence  and 
elevation  of  character.  I  have  been  accustomed  to  think,  that,  for  its 
intelligence  and  moral  growth,  Westfield  was  vastly  more  indebted  to 
our  old  friend,  Dr.  Davis,  than  most  people  were  aware  of ;  and  I  hope 
you  will  do  him  justice  in  your  address.  His  most  prominent  talent 
was  sound  common  sense.  He  understood  the  value  of  common  edu- 
cation in  common  schools,  and  labored  to  promote  it.  I  believe  the 
common  school,  controlled  as  well  as  supported  by  the  people,  is  a  ne- 
cessity in  a  free  government,  and  that  good  common  schools  are  neces- 
sary to  elevate  the  character  of  the  people ;  and  that  whoever  would 
destroy  them,  and  place  common  education  in  the  hands  of  the  clergy, 
or  any  other  class  of  professional  men,  would  work  in  hostility  to  free 
government.  Dr.  Davis  was  a  Christian,  and  accepted  the  Bible  as  a 
divine  revelation,  applying  his  common  sense  to  the  interpretation  of  it, 
in  respect  to  doctrine  and  practical  duty.  He  knew  its  elevating  ten- 
dency. I  believe,  as  he  did,  that  it  supplies  a  moral  element,  which  is 
necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the  morals  of  a  community — an  ele- 
ment, that  nothing  else  can  supply.  And  whoever  would  depreciate 
the  Bible,  or  oppose  its  general  use  and  acceptance,  acts  in  hostility  to 


APPENDIX.  141 

a  free  government  and  the  moral  elevation  of  the  people.  Westfield 
has  improved  just  about  in  proportion  to  its  increased  regard  for  Chris- 
tianity and  common  education,  and  its  improvement  within  forty  years 
has  not  been  small.  It  will  continue  to  grow,  and  two  hundred  years 
hence  the  people  will  re-publish,  and  read  Mr.  Sates'  address  with 
great  interest.  I  want  greatly  to  hear  that  address  as  well  as  to  visit 
your  wife,  Miss  Fannie  and  Miss  Bessie,  and  see  some  of  my  other 
friends  in  Westfield.  But  just  think  of  it !  On  our  circuits,  we  must 
listen  attentively  to  learned  arguments  all  day  till  six,  and  then  go  into 
consultation  till  nine  or  ten,  and  fill  up  our  vacations  with  writing 
opinions.  And  as  we  go  to  bed,  thoroughly  tired,  it  is  with  the  com- 
forting reflection,  that  the  constitutional  requirement,  that  we  shall  have 
an  honorable  support  is  utterly  disregarded,  and  that,  if  we  had  no 
private  property  to  supply  a  part  of  what  is  justly  due  us  from  the 
treasury  of  the  State,  we  should  have  to  resign  to-morrow.  But,  I 
suppose  we  must  yield  to  the  claims  of  railroads,  and  other  enterprises 
for  money,  and  I  must  suppress  my  strong  desire  to  attend  your  cele- 
bration. I  send  my  regrets,  and  my  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Bates,  and 
your  daughters,  your  family  and  your  associates. 

Yours  truly,  R.  A.  CHAPMAN. 

HON.  WILLIAM  Gr.  BATES. 

LETTER  FROM  PROF.  GEORGE  W.  BENEDICT. 

George  W.  Benedict  was  preceptor  in  the  Westfield  Academy  in  the 
years  1818  and  1819,  and  subsequently  became  a  professor  in  the  uni- 
versity in  Burlington,  Vermont. 

HON.  W.  G.  BATES.  BURLINGTON,  VT.,  Sept.  25,  1869. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  thank  you  for  the  pleasant  note  I  received  from  you  a 
day  or  two  since,  with  an  invitation  for  me  to  be  present  at  the  bi-cen- 
tennial  celebration  of  the  settlement  of  Westfield.  Is  it  possible  that 
it  is  fifty  years  since  I  left  my  charge  as  perceptor  of  Westfield  Acad- 
emy ?  So  the  almanac  says ;  but  who  would  have  thought  that  fifty 
years  could  run  away  so  soon?  It  is  no  wonder,  that  the  "  bi-centen- 
nial "  has  come  along  so  soon,  for  two  hundred  is  onlyybur  times  fifty, 
— not  much  after  all. 

But,  short  as  fifty  years  have  been,  they  have  wrought  considerable 
changes  in  me,  among  which  have  come  along  some  infirmities  of  body, 
which  quite  disenable  me  from  mingling  in  crowds,  or  exposing  myself 
to  fatigue,  and  I  must  decline  being  present  at  the  interesting  gathering 
to  which  you  invite  me.  Even  if  I  could  go,  I  doubt  whether  I  should 


142  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

not  get  as  much  pain  as  pleasure  from  the  meeting.  Nearly  all  whom 
I  knew,  as  full-grown  persons  there,  in  1818-19,  are  gone ;  and  of  the 
many  whom  I  knew  as  pupils,  (and  of  whom  nearly  all  come  up  pleas- 
antly before  my  mind's  eye,  yet  as  young  as  ever,)  only  a  few  of  those 
who  survive  would  recognize  me,  and  them  I  should  find  old  instead  of 
young.  The  break  in  the  picture  would  seem  far  greater  to  mo  and 
them,  than  it  can  be  to  those  who  have  met  each  other  at  frequent  and 
short  intervals  during  the  half  century  past. 

Since  I  was  last  at  Wostfield — I  think  it  was  forty-five  or  forty-six  years 
ago— I  have  met  surprisingly  few  of  those  whom  I  knew  there.  Many  years 
ago,  when  I  had  occasion  to  be  in  Boston,  I  somehow  was  told,  that  you 
was  in  the  city,  and  at  the  Tremont  Hotel,  I  believe,  and  I  went  there 
purposely  to  see  you ;  but  was  told  at  the  office  that  you  had  left  the 
day  before.  It  would  have  given  me  great  pleasure  to  have  seen  you, 
and  to  have  talked  over  with  you  the  pleasant  year  which  I  spent  as  an 
inmate  of  your  father's  family.  Hon.  James  Fowler — whose  kind  re- 
membrance of  me  in  your  note  I  wish  to  reciprocate,  I  met  for  a  few 
minutes  many  years  ago  on  a  railroad  train  near  Burlington,  and  that 
short  interview  was  provokingly  interrupted  by  a  business  interview  with 
a  gentleman,  who  had  telegraphed  me  to  meet  him  then  and  there.  It 
will  be  quite  an  accident  if  we,  any  of  us,  meet  again  in  this  life — but 
an  accident,  which  I  would  be  very  glad  to  have  take  place. 

With  great  respect  for  your  letter,  I  remain,  as  ever, 
Your  old  friend, 

GEORGE  W.  BENEDICT. 

P.  S.  Life  and  prosperity  to  Westfield  and  Westfield  Academy,  for 
many  hundreds  of  years  to  come. 


LETTER  FROM  LEWIS  F.  ALLEN,  BUFFALO,  N.  Y. 

Lewis  F.  Allen  is  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Buffalo.  He  has  been 
engaged  in  extensive  improvements  in  that  city,  and  has  filled  its  most 
honorable  offices. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  30,  1869. 

MY  DEAK  SIR:  Your  kind  invitation  to  attend  "the  Second  Cen- 
tennial Anniversary  of  the  town  of  Westfield  "  is  received. 

No  enjoyment  within  my  control  would  give  me  more  hearty  gratifi- 
cation, than  to  attend  your  anniversary,  but  indispensable  engagements 
at  home  will  prevent  it.  The  loss  will  be  mine  only,  not  yours,  for  I 
could  add  nothing  of  interest  to  your  proceedings,  as  I  am  known  to 


APPENDIX.  143 

scarcely  a  score  of  your  citizens,  and  am  unfortunate  in  having  but 
few  blood  relations  in  your  midst;  thus,  in  my  long  absence  from 
your  town,  I  should  only  be  a  stranger  to  nearly  all  of  your  good 
people. 

But,  there  is  still  the  grand,  lone  Mount  Tekoa  (near  the  foot  of 
which  I  first  drew  my  breath)  looking  tranquilly  down  upon  you ;  the 
hills  of  Russell,  and  Blandford,  and  Granville  still  maintain  their  pro- 
tecting front  over  your  delightful  valley ;  the  pure  waters  of  your 
"  Great"  and  "Little"  rivers  (in  which  I  have  swam  and  dived  un- 
counted times  in  early  boyhood)  are  yet  shimmering  through  your  lux- 
uriant meadows;  and  many  other  interesting  objects  are  there,  with 
which  my  memory  is  familiar,  and  at  whose  sight  a  thousand  fond  rec- 
ollections would  throng  my  heart.  No  strangers  would  they  be  to  me, 
although  myself  a  stranger  to  your  people. 

When  reflecting  upon  the  accident  of  my  birth,  I  feel  a  pride  that 
Massachusetts  is  my  native  state,  and  that  Westfield  is  my  native  town 
— a  town  then,  as  now,  among  the  most  beautiful  in  the  charming  Con- 
necticut valley.  My  brief  school  education  was  mostly  obtained  in  the 
old  wooden  academy,  whose  white  walls  looked  out  on  the  village 
"green,"  and  my  last  and  only  histrionic  exploits  were  enacted  at  the 
annual  "exhibition,"  with  my  school-fellows,  on  the  "stage,"  extem- 
porized in  the  old  white  "meeting-house"  adjacent,  under  the  super- 
vision of  our  complacent,  yet  anxious  "  preceptor,"  and  our  occasional 
"usher" — the  latter,  the  Hon.  James  Fowler,  since  risen  to  well-won 
distinction  among  you,  and  still,  I  trust,  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  serene 
and  venerable  age — and  the  "young  lady  scholars,"  too,  who  played 
their  "Desdemonas  "  and  "  Ophelias"  to  their  ranting,  strutting  heroes, 
coy  and  affectionate,  under  the  surveillance  of  their  sedate  "  precep- 
tress" and  "  under  teacher."  Blessings  be  on  the  heads  of  those  who 
survive,  and  honor  to  the  many  of  those  who  have  departed  ! 

The  pulpit  of  the  "  meeting-house,"  in  those  days  was  worthily  and 
ably  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Isaac  Knapp,  who,  among  his  outside  paro- 
chial ministrations,  as  visitor  to  the  smaller  "  district  schools,"  in  my  still 
earlier  days,  taught  me  the  "shorter. catechism," — a  tedious  lesson,  by 
the  way,  to  my  impatient  boyhood — the  iron-bound  "  Orthodox"  teach- 
ings of  which  I  have  not  forgotten,  but  to  its  observances,  I  fear,  often 
played  the  truant.  With  what  awe  and  reverence  did  I  look  up  at  the 
occasional  aged,  venerable,  white-wigged,  long-queued  "  ministers,"  who 
exchanged  pulpits  with  our  younger,  more  modern  Mr.  Knapp  in  those 
days;  and  how  decorously  straightened  up  in  the  "Deacon's  pew," 
under  the  pulpit,  sat  grim  "old  Deacon  Ballentine," — lone  bachelor 


144  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

that  he  was — looking  out  in  case-hardened  severity  through  his  iron- 
bound  spectacles,  on  the  inattention  of  a  listless  hearer ! 

Since  I  left  Westfield,  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  my  visits  there  have 
been  few  and  far  between  ;  but  they  are  full  of  pleasant  recollections. 
The  venerable  mansion,  erected  by  my  maternal  grandsire  (Captain 
llichard  Falley,  of  Bunker  Hill  and  Revolutionary  memory),  near  the 
"  green,"  and  in  which  he  lived  many  years,  is  still  standing,  ahd  for 
sixty  years  or  more,  has  been  successively  occupied  by  some  of  your 
most  eminent  physicians — Dr.  Atwater,  and  the  son  of  the  elder  Dr. 
James  Holland,  the  younger  Dr.  James  (the  latter,  one  of  your  Com- 
mittee of  Invitation,  and  late  a  gallant  medical  soldier  in  our  armies) , 
whose  ministrations  to  the  diseased  and  afflicted  were  ever  salutary  and 
grateful. 

The  aesthetic  taste  of  the  good  people  of  Westfield,  I  find,  has  been 
exercised  in  the  extension  of  your  ample  streets,  and  the  planting  of  trees 
which  overshadow  their  pleasant  dwellings  ;  while  their  active  industry 
has  adorned  the  town  with  public  structures,  admirable  in  design,  and 
munificent  in  appropriation — all  indicative  of  the  high  morality,  the 
continuous  thrift,  the  substantial  wealth  of  your  population. 

In  my  last  visit  to  Westfield,  two  years  ago,  I  felt  one  pang,  and 
that  a  sharp  one.  As  I  passed  up  your  principal  street  from  the  rail- 
way station  to  the  "green,"  I  saw  a  board,  on  which  was  painted 
"  Franklin  street."  What  a  desecration,  thought  I,  of  the  venerable, 
time-honored  name,  "  Shepard  lane,"  as  it  used  to  be  in  my  boyhood  ! 
Dr.  Franklin  is  honored,  in  a  thousand  names,  in  county,  town  and  vil- 
lage ;  no  need  of  him  in  Westfield ;  while  the  revolutionary  patriot, 
Gen.  Shepard,  white-haired  and  noble  in  presence,  as  I  remember  him, 
whose  humble,  gambrel-roofed,  elm-shadowed  dwelling  on  the  highway, 
giving  it  a  patriarchal,  well-deserved  name,  must  be  rubbed  out  and  for- 
gotten !  No,  no,  my  good  friends,  take  down  that  ambitious  "  Frank- 
lin," and  restore,  in  good,  honest  black  and  white,  "  Shepard  lane  ! " 
It  has  a  rural  significance  as  well. 

God  bless  the  good  old  town  of  Westfield  !  Peace  and  prosperity 
attend  its  people  !  May  the  joyous  event,  which  you  are  about  to  cele- 
brate, remain  a  grateful  memorial  in  their  hearts,  and  an  abiding  ex- 
ample to  future  generations. 

With  the  kindest  personal  regards  to  yourself,  and  most  respectful 
salutations  to  your  associates,  I  remain,  dear  sir, 

Most  truly,  your  friend, 

LEWIS  F.  ALLEN. 

HON.  WM.  G.  BATES,  Ch.  Com.  of  Invitation,  Westfield,  Mass. 


APPENDIX.  145 


TELEGRAM  FROM  GROVE  H.  LOOMIS  OF  BOSTON. 

The  mails  between  Westfield  and  Boston  being  interrupted,  the  anx- 
ious and  yearning  son  of  Westfield  resorted  to  the  telegraph.  His  letter 
came  to  hand  during  our  dinner,  while  he  was  fasting  from  it,  in  disap- 
pointment, in  Boston.  The  letter  itself  discloses  his  state  of  feeling : — 

BOSTON,  Oct.  6,  1869. 
HON.  WILLIAM  G.  BATES  : 

Though  the  winds  and  floods  have  come  between  me  and  home,  pre- 
venting bodily  presence,  yet  in  spirit  I  am  with  you,  and  invoke  upon 
the  returning  and  re-uniting  sons  and  daughters  of  Westfield  that  full 
measure  of  enjoyment,  which  such  an  occasion  must  inspire.  A  thou- 
sand pleasant  memories  crowd  upon  my  mind,  as  I  recall  the  days  of 
"  Auld  Lang  Syne,"  and  as  many  congratulations  rise  to  my  lips,  as  I 
contemplate  the  pleasure  of  the  hour.  By  the  next  centennial,  flying- 
machines  will  doubtless  be  serviceable,  and  then  look  for  my  grand- 
children as  they  come  wafting  home.  Mr.  President,  place  your  hand 
on  the  wire,  and  you  will  see  my  pulse  beats  quick  and  strong  to  be 
with  you.  Please  salute  the  brethren  and  sisters,  particularly  the  latter. 

Yours,  in  memory  of  my  ancestor,  and  with  love  to  my  mother, 

G.  H.  LOOMIS. 


LETTER  FROM  CORNELIUS  HEDGES. 

After  acquiring  his  education  in  this  town  at  the  Academy,  he  was 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1853 ;  and,  being  admitted  to  the  bar 
of  this  county,  he  emigrated  to  his  present  residence. 

HELENA  CITY,  MONTANA  TERRITORY,  Sept.  20,  1869. 
To  HON.  WILLIAM  G.  BATES,  Chairman,  tyc.: 

DEAR  SIR  :  Your  kindly  invitation  to  attend  and  participate  in  cel- 
ebrating the  bi-centennial  anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town 
of  Westfield,  overtook  me,  in  my  wanderings  from  childhood's  home, 
and  has  found  or  kindled  a  strong  desire  to  participate  in  the  festivities, 
and  testify  my  loyal  attachment  to  my  native  town  ;  pride  in  her  name, 
history,  natural  wealth  and  beauty ;  in  her  schools  and  churches  ;  in 
her  thrift  and  enterprise ;  but,  above  all,  I  would  delight  to  see  her 
scattered  sons  and  daughters  gather  around  the  old  homesteads,  to  re- 
vive old  memories  and  associations,  and  over  the  graves  of  our  sires,  to 
renew  our  vows  of  fidelity  to  all  that  was  wise  and  good  in  their  teach- 
ings and  example.  But,  in  view  of  distance  and  pressing  duties,  I 
19 


146  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

regret  to  say  I  cannot  come  in  person.  I  have  chased  the  setting  sun 
to  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  seen  many  of  the  bright 
and  rich  Jields  of  the  West,  but  none  so  bright  and  fair,  in  my  sight, 
as  the  Westfield  of  my  birth.  I  love  it  all — her  meadows  and  hills  ; 
her  rivers,  brooks  and  ponds ;  her  blackberry  plains,  and  chestnut 
woods  ;  all  of  them  are  linked  with  the  golden  chains  of  memory.  I 
have  found  a  land  that  contains  more  gold,  but  all  the  countless  wealth 
of  Montana's  mines,  could  not  hire  me  to  choose  any  other  spot  than. 
Westfield,  in  which  to  spend  my  days,  if  I  could  go  back  to  the  friends 
and  companions  of  my  youth.  But  too  many  have  passed  the  bourne, 
from  which  no  traveler  returns.  Could  the  dead  of  two  hundred  years 
attend  your  gathering,  what  a  vast  and  venerable  assemblage  !  But, 
the  two  centuries  to  come,  are  bigger  with  destinies,  and  will  throng 
with  mightier  hosts.  You  are  acting  wisely,  in  sinking  the  foundations 
for  a  virtuous  and  prosperous  society,  in  public  schools,  libraries  and 
churches.  No  descendant  of  Westfield  needs  blush  for  his  birthplace. 

Hoping  success  to  the  occasion,  pleasure  to  all  who  participate,  with 
sorrowful  regret,  that  I  must  be  denied  the  pleasure,  I  extend  to  you, 
and  through  you,  to  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  my  warmest 
thanks. 

I  remain  ever  a  son  of  Westfield,  proud  of  his  birthplace. 

CORNELIUS  HEDGES. 


LETTER  FROM  J.  SIBLEY. 

Mr.  Sibley  was  educated  here,  studied  law  in  New  York  State,  emi- 
grated to  Illinois,  was  elected  a  judge,  in  which  office  he  has  remained 
for  several  years,  as  a  popular  officer. 

QUINCY,  Sept.  20,  1869. 
To  HON.  WILLIAM  G.  BATES,  Chairman,  fyc.: 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  was  much  gratified  by  your  kind  invitation  to  attend 
the  bi-centennial  festival,  contemplated  at  Westfield,  on  the  6th  of  Octo- 
ber next,  that  has  just  reached  me  at  this  place,  and  in  reply  allow  me 
to  express  to  you,  and  through  you  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  committee 
on  invitations,  my  sincere  regrets,  that  official  duties  are  such  as  to  ren- 
der it  quite  impossible  for  me  to  be  present  on  the  occasion  referred  to. 

Though  separated  by  the  space  of  half  a  continent,  and  the  time 
usually  allotted  to  a  generation  of  men,  from  a  residence  among  you, 
still  I  should  participate  as  heartily  in  celebrating  the  birthday  of  West- 
field,  as  if  the  intervening  time  and  space  were  entirely  obliterated. 
For  the  pleasant  recollections  of  the  long-ago  past  connected  with  that 


APPENDIX.  147 

place,  return  to  the  mind  as  fresh  as  the  events  of  yesterday.  And  let 
me  assure  the  good  people  of  that  town,  who  can  with  pride  look  back 
over  these  dead  centuries  to  find  the  commencement  of  its  corporate 
existence,  that  if  there  is  anything  that  I  have  reason  to  be  proud  of, 
it  is  in  being  thus  remembered  as  a  native-born  son  of  that  ancient  and 
honored  place. 

May  the  prosperity  of  Westfield  continue  undiminished  through  the 
remaining  centuries  to  come,  and  its  inhabitants  exhibit  the  same  gen- 
erous and  hospitable  spirit  in  celebrating  their  exit,  as  that  which  the 
present  occasion  has  manifested, — is  the  sentiment  of 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

J.  SIBLEY. 


LETTER  FROM  WILLIAM  L.  ATWATER. 

Mr.  Atwater  is  the  son  of  Dr.  William  Atwater,  and  grandson  of 
Rev.  Noah  Atwater,  and  was  born  in  the  old  family  mansion,  where 
Dr.  James  Holland  now  lives. 

NEW  YORK,  Oct.  4,  1869. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  make  a  tardy  response  to  your  invitation  to  unite  with 
the  sons  of  Westfield  in  celebrating  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of 
its  settlement.  As  a  dutiful  son,  I  hoped  to  obey  the  call,  and  to  meet 
at  the  spot  of  my  birth  with  my  earliest,  and  of  course  my  best  friends. 
But  just  as  your  committee  of  arrangements  are  marshaling  in  proces- 
sion the  home  residents  and  the  returned  emigrant  sons,  with  the  wel- 
come exotics,  I  must  be  counted  absent,  and  reluctantly  forego  the  high 
enjoyment.  Yet,  at  a  distance,  I  will  rejoice  that  such  a  home  entertain- 
ment will  be  spread  for  the  other  children.  It  will  be  easy  and  pleasant 
for  absent  members  of  the  family  to  imagine  the  historian  of  Westfield 
and  his  co-laborers,  telling  to  delighted  auditors  a  narrative  so  unlike 
the  chronicles,  which  have  surfeited  us  with  military  exploits  and  politi- 
cal intrigues.  They  will  relate  how  the  pioneers  of  civilization  from 
beyond  the  Connecticut,  pitched  their  tents  near  Little  River,  and 
towards  the  Green,  and  how  promptly  the  meeting-house  and  school- 
house  followed ;  how  barter-trades  were  driven  with  the  Woronocos, 
and  what  were  the  sumptuary  regulations  of  our  grandsires  and  grand- 
mothers ;  how  matrons  left  politics  and  platforms,  to  rule  with  gentle 
sway  in  their  home  kingdoms,  not  having  yet  learned  from  the  Sorosis, 
that,  in  these  quiet,  domestic  scenes,  they  were  out  of  their  element, 
and  that  they  ought  to  be  more  concerned  about  their  doubtful  rights, 
than  about  their  well  defined  duties ;  how  young  men  found  rational 


148  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

entertainment  and  healthful  exercises  outside  of  clubs  and  billiard- 
rooms;  how  much  better  employed  were  the  young  maidens'  hands, 
that  turned  spinning-wheels  in  the  seventeenth  century,  than  the  hands  that 
turned  the  pages  of  sensational  and  corrupting  novels  in  the  nineteenth. 
And  as  hours  pass  on,  the  hungry  Olivers  around  the  board  beseech- 
ingly ask  for  more  pleasant  "  Pictures."  A  new  lustre  will  gather 
around  many  beloved  and  honored  homes.  Those  long  since  gone,  will 
be  venerated,  and  the  many  departed  will  be  tenderly  remembered. 
And  should  their  domestic  and  social  virtues  be  painted  with  too  much 
warmth  of  coloring,  or,  if  the  faithful  historian  discloses  some  failings, 
I  dare  say  that  the  extravagance  will  be  indulged,  for  the  occasion,  and 
that  the  sons,  like  Noah's,  will  cover  the  reproach  of  their  fathers. 

It  was  one  of  Lord  Bacon's  memorable  sayings,  that  "  the  best  times 
to  live  in  were  the  worst  times  to  read  about ;  "  that  is  to  say,  that  the  an- 
nals of  peaceful,  arcadian  ages  afford  no  stirring  incidents  for  lively  enter- 
tainment. If  we  accept  this  view,  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  archives 
of  Westfield  furnish  no  records  of  splendid,  heroic  deeds,  or  of  exciting 
adventures.  Virgil  could  never  have  opened  the  first  chapter  of  our  his- 
tory, as  he  opened  the  first  book  of  ^Bneid  by  singing  of, ''  arms  and  the 
man."  The  most  patient  researches  would  perhaps  discover  no  other, 
or  no  greater  adventures  and  exploits  than  those  our  fathers  dared  and 
achieved,  in  hunting  on  some  fine  day,  or  in  fishing  on  a  rainy  one  ;  or  if 
in  the  field,  life's  chief  battles  were  fought  in  charging  upon  unsubdued 
soils  and  obstinate  and  usurping  stumps.  The  only  revolutions  on  rec- 
ord, would  prove  to  be  the  bloodless  ones,  which  our  honored  mothers 
made  with  their  spinning-wheels.  Our  two  centuries  of  chronicles,  are 
neither  terrible  or  voluminous  with  the  blood  and  thunder  narratives, 
which  in  our  own  day  swarm  in  houses,  as  the  flies  of  Egypt.  With- 
out battles  and  victories,  without  genealogies  of  great  and  illustrious 
names  in  science  and  learning,  our  ancestors  and  ourselves  have  lived 
in  Westfield  in  uneventful  times.  But  those  have  been  good  times, 
when  families  and  neighborhoods  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  popular  edu- 
cation, and  were  united  harmoniously  by  bonds  of  brotherly  sympathy ; 
when  the  few  reputed  rich  men  never  looked  disdainfully  upon  poor 
men,  and  when  there  were  few  or  no  poor  men  to  envy  the  prosperity 
of  those  more  favored.  We,  and  others,  can  afford  to  let  the  proverb 
stand,  which  comes  with  so  high  authority,  and  without  regrets  that  our 
annals  afford  no  materials  for  racy  narratives,  will  this  day  rejoice,  that 
the  best  times  to  live  in  are  the  worst  to  read  about. 

If  the  lot  that  ordered  the  times  of  Westfield's  first  settlers,  their 
descendant's  and  our  own,  has  been  pleasant,  we  shall  this  day  remem- 


APPENDIX.  149 

her  no  less  complacently,  the  circumstances  and  privileges  of  these 
cherished  homes.  The  pioneers  had  indeed  the  trials  inseparable  to  the 
early  stages  of  civilization.  They  had  not  found  the  promised  land  on 
this  side  the  Connecticut.  No  true  spies  had  returned  to  report  that 
the  clusters  of  Eschol  could  be  gathered  on  the  sands  of  Poverty  Plains 
at  the  south,  or  at  Hampden  Plains  on  the  north,  or,  that  milk  and 
honey  flowed  from  under  the  shadow  of  Tekoa.  And  then  there  were 
Canaanites  to  be  driven  out  from  among  the  Woronocos  (it  is  hoped 
that  they  came  under  John  Eliot's  ministrations).  But  the  homes  and 
the  surroundings,  the  family  altars,  and  rural  and  more  elaborate  tem- 
ples on  these  plains,  have  been  happy  and  sacred  spots.  In  respect  to 
material  prosperity,  it  has  been  a  good  land,  in  rewarding  labor  in  the 
pursuits  of  agriculture,  and  mechanical  and  manufacturing  skill  and  in- 
dustry. Westfield  has  been  happy,  useful  and  honored  in  its  just  esti- 
mate of  popular  education,  offering  during  all  the  present  century,  ad- 
vantages for  academical  instruction  which  few  people  have  enjoyed.  It 
has  been  happy  in  enjoying  a  long  settled  and  faithful  ministry  of  be- 
loved pastors,  who  so  taught  religion  by  word,  and  so  exemplified  it  in 
deed,  that  resulting  blessings  have  been  imparted  to  their  flocks,  and 
unwonted  harmony  in  every  generation  has  prevailed  among  all  denom- 
inations. From  what  has  been  done  here  in  the  interests  of  education, 
in  the  labors  of  a  faithful  ministry,  and  in  promoting  peace  and  good 
will  among  all  its  people,  other  communities  may  derive  impulse  and 
example.  These  pleasant  home  pictures  have  had  their  shadows.  The 
cypress  and  the  myrtle  have  grown  near  each  other  in  every  scene. 
Yet,  surveying  the  alternating  years  of  health  and  infirmities,  hopes  and 
disappointments,  successes  and  defeats,  smiles  and  tears,  we  must  one 
and  all  testify  this  day,  that  the  lines  have  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant 
places,  yea,  that  we  have  had  a  goodly  heritage ;  that  the  home  of  our 
children,  youth,  middle  age,  or  declining  years, 

Is  a  spot  of  earth  supremely  blest, 

A  dearer,  sweeter  spot  than  all  the  rest. 

In  the  year  1669,  a  few  emigrants  from  Massachusetts  colony  settled 
on  these  plains  of  Westfield.  With  their  brethren  of  the  colony,  they 
came  to  lay  the  foundation  of  civil  government  in  the  wilderness.  They 
recognized  God's  laws  as  the  fundamental  authority;  and  that  they 
owed  him  supreme  reverence  and  obedience,  was  their  first  and  last 
duty.  Secondly,  they  held  that  they  "  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  gov- 
ernment within  themselves  as  their  undoubted  right  in  the  sight  of  God 
and  man."  They  believed  in  "  government  of  the  people  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  for  the  people."  And  here,  coeval  with  the  rising  of  their 


150  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

rude  temples  and  their  ruder  homes,  the  tree  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty was  planted  and  reared,  and  we  have  eaten  of  the  precious  fruits 
and  sat  for  two  hundred  years  under  its  shade.  It  is  because  of  those 
venerable  men,  and  the  principles  they  taught  to  our  fathers,  that  we 
have  enjoyed  an  enlightened  freedom  and  a  civilization  unsurpassed 
among  men.  And  duty,  love  and  reverence  unite  this  day  in  commem- 
orating, if  not  their  names,  yet  their  great  and  enduring  work. 

I  associate  with  my  youthful  days  in  Westfield  one  who  had  a  preju- 
dice in  favor  of  good  roads,  and  who  rendered  the  public  a  long  and 
faithful  service  by  his  interest  in  their  highways.  I  will  close  a  letter, 
I  fear  quite  too  long,  by  offering  a  sentiment  which  all  will  agree  has  a 
worthy  subject.  [The  sentiment  will  be  found  on  page  114.] 

Very  truly, 

W.  L.  ATWATER. 
WILLIAM  G.  BATES,  ESQ.,  Chairman,  tyc. 


LETTER  FROM  HENRY  F.  TERRY. 

SANTA  ROSA,  CAL.,  Sept.  28,  1869. 
WILLIAM  G.  BATES,  ESQ.,  Chairman,  Sfc.: 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  happy  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  tickets  of  in- 
vitation to  participate  in  the  bi-centennial  celebration  of  your  town, 
to  occur  on  the  6th  of  October  next. 

With  what  quickened  beat  does  the  blood  pulsate  through  my  frame 
at  the  very  mention  of  New  England,  and  especially  Westfield,  with 
which  so  many  pleasant  recollections  are  associated.  'Tis  sacred  ground 
to  me ;  there  lie  the  earthly  remains  of  a  Father,  peace  to  his  ashes  ! 

And  how  I  would  rejoice  to  be  with  you,  and  add  one  to  the  num- 
ber of  those,  who  though  wandering  from  there,  are  still  loyal  to  the 
scenes  of  youth. 

"  'Tis  the  birthplace  of  freedom,  the  land  I  love  best." 

There  among  others,  I  would  meet  those  dearest  on  earth — the  faces 
on  whom  my  infant  eyes  first  rested ;  the  face  of  her  who  first  taught 
me  to  lisp  "  Our  Father  in  Heaven  " — my  Mother  !  My  heart  over- 
flows as  I  contemplate  the  picture. 

Although  I  could  add  but  little  to  the  success  of  the  celebration, 
from  my  knowledge  of  the  deep  emotional  heart  of  New  Englanders, 
I  know  I  should  receive  as  hearty  a  welcome,  on  all  sides,  as  my  pleas- 
ure would  be  intense.  But  I  am  admonished  by  circumstances  that  I 
must  forego  and  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  participating  therein. 


APPENDIX.  151 

With  the  fullest  assurance  of  my  well-wishes  in  this  and  all  other 
undertakings,  both  public  and  private,  T  subscribe  myself,  with  many 
thanks  for  the  remembrance, 

Yours  truly, 

HENRY  F.  TERRY. 


LETTER  FROM  O.  R.  INGERSOLL. 

NEW  YORK,  Sept.  14,  1869. 
To  HON.  WILLIAM  G.  BATES  : 

SIR  :  I  learn  that  you  have  been  invited  to  deliver  the  address  at  the 
celebration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of 
the  town  of  Westfield.  I  therefore  address  you  these  few  lines,  and  if 
you  derive  from  them  any  information  that  is  new  to  you  or  may  come 
within  the  scope  of  your  line  of  remaarks  on  that  exceedingly  interest- 
ing occasion  I  shall  be  pleased.  I  am  a  descendant  of  John  Ingersoll, 
the  settler,  who  moved  to  Westfield  in  the  year  1665  and  died  there  in 
1684.  His  wife  was  Mary  Hunt,  whose  mother  was  Mary  Webster, 
daughter  of  John  Webster,  fifth  governor  of  the  colony  of  Connecticut. 
John  Ingersoll  had  fifteen  children — Joseph,  one  of  his  sons,  born  in 
Westfield,  October  16,  1675,  was  slain  at  Deerfield,  Mass.,  when  that 
town  was  destroyed  by  the  French  and  Indians,  February  29,  1704. 
Another  son,  Thomas,  married  Sarah  Ashley.  Their  son  was  Thomas, 
who  married  Sarah  Dewey ;  his  house  which  now  stands  in  Little  River, 
and  is  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  of  age,  was  known  many 
years  as  the  Ingersoll  Place.  Thomas  was  a  magistrate  in  Westfield 
until  his  decease.  His  house  being  large,  was  used  as  a  kind  of  fort, 
where  the  people  resorted  for  safety  during  the  Indian  wars.  Greylock, 
the  famous  Indian  warrior,  had  killed  a  large  number  of  persons,  and 
was  skulking  around  a  long  time,  and  at  last,  when  in  the  act  of  scalp- 
ing Thomas'  wife,  Sarah,  Thomas  fired,  Greylock  escaped  bleeding  into 
the  woods  and  was  never  heard  from  afterwards.  Thomas'  son,  John, 
was  a  magistrate,  and  died  in  Westfield.  Another  son,  Jonathan,  was 
a  captain,  and  killed  at  Fort  George  by  the  Indians  lying  in  ambush,  in 
1754  ;  seventy  soldiers  were  killed  on  a  scouting  party.  Thomas  Inger- 
soll emigrated  to  Canada  before  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  town  of 
"  Ingersoll "  was  named  in  honor  of  them.  Major  Charles  Ingersoll, 
his  son,  was  an  officer  in  the  British  army  and  a  member  of  the  Cana- 
dian Parliament.  Charles  J.  and  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll  of  Philadelphia, 
descended  from  John  the  settler.  Their  father  was  Jared  Ingersoll, 
judge  of  the  District  Court  of  Pennsylvania.  He  attained  high  rank 
as  a  lawyer,  was  a  member  of  Congress  and  of  the  convention  which 


152  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

formed  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.     The  New  Haven  In^cr- 

O 

soils  descended  from  John,  the  settler.  Ralph  I.  is  one  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  in  Connecticut;  his  brother,  Charles  A.,  was  a  United  States 
judge  at  the  time  of  his  death.  Their  sister,  Grace  Ingersoll,  was  one 
of  the  famous  women  of  the  court  of  the  first  Napoleon,  and  married 
one  of  Napoleon's  receiver  generals.  Benjamin  Saxton,  the  first  white 
male  child  or  English  child  born  in  Westfield,  was  born  in  a  house  that 
stood  under  the  hill  near  the  Ingersoll  house. 

0.  R.  INGERSOLL. 


LETTER  FROM  HENRY  W.  TAYLOR. 

A  letter,  dated  October  1,  1869,  was  addressed  to  Hon.  William  G. 
Bates,  by  Henry  W.  Taylor,  Esq.  of  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  a  descendant 
of  the  first  pastor  of  the  church  in  Westfield,  expressive  of  his  interest 
in  the  celebration,  of  his  desire  to  be  present,  and  of  his  intention  so  to 
do.  Like  many  others,  he  was  prevented  by  an  imperative  necessity. 
His  letter  contains  sixteen  closely  written  pages,  which  are  devoted  to 
the  personal  history  of  his  venerable  relative ;  and  the  facts  stated  are 
of  a  most  interesting  character,  particularly  to  the  numerous  descend- 
ants of  the  old  pastor.  We  can  only  make  a  few  extracts  from  the  let- 
ter, and  state  a  few  facts  set  forth  therein. 

He  was  born  in  England,  educated  for  the  ministry,  studied  seven 
years  in  one  of  their  universities ;  but  the  ejection  of  2,000  dissenting 
clergymen  in  1662,  and  the  persecutions  which  that  class  of  Christians 
suffered,  induced  him  to  a  voluntary  exile.  It  seems  he  was  then  an  ar- 
dent anti-monarchist,  and  his  early  writings  are  said  to  breathe,  in  no 
doubtful  terms,  his  strong  aversion  to  the  rulings  of  the  existing  dynasty. 
He  was,  through  his  whole  life,  a  most  voluminous  writer,  keeping  a 
diary  of  the  running  events  of  his  life,  and  recording  things  of  passing 
interest.  He  left  a  large  number  of  written  folio  volumes,  and  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  transcribing,  with  his  own  hand,  the  books  which  were 
loaned  to  him  by  his  friend  Judge  Sewall  of  Boston.  Mr.  Taylor  also 
studied  medicine ;  and  during  his  life  was  accustomed  to  minister  as 
well  to  the  diseases  of  the  body,  as  of  the  soul.  He  also  gave  atten- 
tion to  the  study  of  natural  history,  and  some  of  his  compositions  were 
published  in  the  scientific  literature  of  the  day. 

We  do  not  suppose  our  readers  care  to  know  how  he  bore  the  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic ;  whether  or  not  he  was  sea-sick,  or  what  the  state 
of  the  weather  was ;  but,  as  showing  the  state  of  navigation,  and  the 
change  in  the  general  state  of  things  in  the  space  of  two  hundred 


APPENDIX.  153 

years,  we  append  an  extract  from  his  journal,  kindly  furnished  by 
Mr.  H.  W.  Taylor. 

"Anno  Domini  1668.  April  22,  being  Lord's  day,  between  ten  and 
eleven  o'clock  at  night,  I  came  for  sea,  taking  boat  at  Execution  Dock, 
Wapping.  They  got  to  the  Downs,  May  1,  and  we  are  forced  to  tarry 
for  the  winds.  I  sent  a  letter  to  London  and  another  to  Sketchley. 
May  3,  I  had  a  sad  forenoon,  but  toward  evening  the  ship-master 
sent  for  me,  and  enjoined  me  to  go  to  prayer  with  them.  May  14, 
against  Dover.  I  sent  a  letter  to  my  brother  Richard.  May  15, 
against  the  Isle  of  Wight.  May  20,  against  the  Lisard.  Lord's 
day,  May  24,  I  then  being  put  to  exercise  spoke  from  John  3d,  3d. 
May  31,  Lord's  day,  wind  west.  I  was  very  sick,  so  that  I  could  not 
perform  the  duties  of  the  day.  June  7,  our  latitude  is  43°.  These 
two  last  days  we  sailed  well  nigh  150  leagues.  I  being  somewhat  bet- 
ter in  health  than  before,  did  exercise  from  and  apply  the  doctrine  that 
before  I  approved.  June  13,  we  exercised  from  Isaiah  3d,  llth. 
June  18,  our  latitude  41°,  longitude  51°.  After  dinner  I  read  the  4th 
chapter  of  John,  in  Greek.  Lord's  day,  June  21, 1  approved  the  doc- 
trine I  delivered  the  Lord's  day  before.  Lord's  day,  June  28,  I  ex- 
ercised from  the  words,  "  For  the  reward  of  their  hands  shall  be  given 
them,"  Isaiah  3d,  llth.  July  2d,  sounded  50  fathoms.  July  4th, 
thick  fog ;  seeing  land  on  both  hands,  Plymouth  on  the  left  and  Salem 
on  the  right,  towards  sun-setting,  about  five  o'clock  we  saw  the  Island 
in  our  passage  up  to  Boston.  About  three  o'clock  on  Lord's  day, 
July  5th,  in  the  morning  we  came  to  shore.  July  23d  I  was  admitted 
into  the  college,  pupil  under  Mr.  Thomas  Graves,  Sir  Fellow  in  a  great, 
yet  civil  class.  I  continued  there  three  years  and  a  quarter,  all  which 
time  I  was  college  butler.  I  proposed  to  lay  down  my  place  at  the 
commencement.  The  President  by  his  incessant  request  and  desires  pre- 
vailed with  me  to  tarry  in  it,  as  for  three  years  before ;  but  after  a 
quarter's  trial  he  (I)  was  invited  by  Mr.  Thomas  Flint  of  Braintree  to 
come  and  study  with  him.  He  (I)  went  in  1671,  but  soon  returned 
and  settled  in  the  college,  and  was  instituted  scholar  of  the  house  the 
16th  day  of  November,  1671 ;  but  the  17th  being  quarter  day,  Thomas 
Dewey  a  messenger  from  Westfield  on  Connecticut  river,  to  the  Bay  to 
get  a  minister  for  the  people,  being  by  eight  or  nine  elders,  met  at  the 
lecture  at  Boston,  directed  to  myself,  came  to  me  with  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Increase  Mather ;  and  whom,  for  answer,  I  referred  to  the  Rev.  Presi- 
dent Chauncey  and  Fellows;  and  finding  Mr.  Danforth  for  it,  Mr. 
Oakes  indifferent,  rather  advising  to  it,  the  President  altogether  against 
it.  At  this  time  the  President  and  Fellows  wanted  to  retain  Mr.  Tay- 
20 


]54  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

lor  for  a  Fellow.  But  Mr.  Danforth  the  Chief  Magistrate  advised,  and 
did  on  the  18th  advise  with  Mr.  Increase  Mather  and  Mr.  Flint.  Their 
advice  was  positive  for  it. 

"  Nov.  27,  I  set  out  with  Mr.  Dewcy,  and  arrived  at  Westfield  Dec. 
1 .  On  Lord's  day  I  preached  to  them  from  Matthew  3d,  2d — my  first 
sermon,  Dec.  3,  1671. 

"  My  going  to  Westfield  with  Mr.  Dewey,  was  a  great  part  of  the 
way,  by  markd  trees :  I  arrived  and  lodged  the  first  night  at  Capt. 
Cook's,  in  the  little  village." 

At  the  time  of  his  arrival,  Westfield  was  a  frontier  town,  then  and 
for  a  long  time  after  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  a  savage  foe,  by  whom 
many  were  from  time  to  time  waylaid,  assaulted  and  murdered.  The 
population  was  small,  and  for  a  series  of  years  were  regularly  gathered 
within  the  fort  at  night,  and  through  the  day  labored  within  reach,  at  a 
moment's  warning,  of  their  fire-arms. 

This  condition  of  things  offered  few  inducements,  to  an  educated  man, 
to  settle  among  them ;  nothing  to  gratify  ambition,  or  pamper  indul- 
gence. On  the  Sabbath  the  people  were  called  together  by  beat  of 
drum. 

The  fort  referred  to  was,  I  have  been  informed,  upon  the  farm,  which 
has  ever  since  been,  and  still  is  owned  by  the  descendants  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Taylor  now  George  Taylor,  his  great-grandson. 

The  paucity  of  population  combined  with  the  extreme  insecurity  of 
person  and  property,  for  a  long  time  delayed  his  installation  as  pastor  of 
the  church  in  that  place. 

The  letters  missive  calling  a  council,  to  organize  a  church,  and  to  or- 
dain the  pastor,  were  dated  July,  1679.  The  council  was  requested  to 
convene  on  the  last  fourth  day  of  the  sixth  month,  which  was  August 
27,  1679,  old  style;  from  which  it  will  be  seen  that  the  ecclesiastical 
year  commenced  with  the  month  of  March.  The  council  consisted  of 
the  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard  of  Northampton,  Mr.  Strong,  ruling  elder, 
and  Capt.  Aaron  Cook  and  Lieut.  Clark,  messengers,  Rev.  John  Rus- 
sell of  Hadley  and  Lieut.  Smith  and  Mr.  Younglove,  messengers,  Rev. 
Peletiah  Glover  of  Springfield,  teaching  elder,  and  I.  Holyoke,  Deacon 
Burt  and  Mr.  Parsons,  messengers,  and  one  messenger  from  Meriden, 
Conn.,  the  pastor  being  detained  by  sickness ;  there  were  present  also, 
as  "guests,"  the  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Hooker  of  Farmington,  Conn.,  and 
the  "  Worshipful  Major  John  Pynchon  "  of  Springfield. 

After  the  council  met,  the  following  persons  were  organized  into  a 
church,  namely,  Edward  Taylor,  John  Maudesley,  Samuel  Loomis, 
Isaac  Phelps,  from  Windsor  church.  Josiah  Dewey  and  John  Inger- 


APPENDIX.  155 

soil  from  Northampton,  and  John  Root  from  Farmington,  Conn.  The 
candidates  were  examined,  after  which  Mr.  Taylor  preached  from  Eph. 
2  :  22.  After  the  candidates  had  assented  to  the  articles  of  faith,  Mr. 
Stoddard  the  moderator  of  the  council  pronounced  them  to  be  a  church 
of  Christ,  orderly  gathered.  They  then  appointed  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tay- 
lor to  receive  the  right  hand  of  fellowship. 

The  moderator  then  asked  them  who  they  would  have  for  officers? 
"  Whereupon,"  says  Mr.  Taylor,  "  my  unworthy  self  was  put  under  a 
call,  to  be  pastor  unto  them."  He  was  then  ordained.  The  ordina- 
tion was  to  this  effect :  "  You,  Edward  Taylor,  are  called  to  this  church 
at  Westfield,  into  the  office  of  a  pastor,  and  having  accepted  their  call, 
we  do  here,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  pronounce  you  pastor  of  the  church." 

Previous  to  this  time,  however,  namely,  in  1674,  he  had  been  ma'r- 
ried  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  eminent  and  useful  minister  of  the 
church  in  Norwich,  Conn.,  James  Fitch,  D.  D. 

Little  is  now  known  of  the  forms  of  love-making  in  those  days ; 
unless  we  take  Sir  Charles  Grandison  as  a  fair  exponent.  The  sub- 
stance we  may  presume  the  same  in  all  eyes.  But  if  we  may  form  our 
judgment  from  the  instance  of  letter  writing,  which  has  come  down  to 
us  from  Mr.  Taylor,  we  must  presume  it  to  have  been  hardly  more  a 
sinecure,  in  those  times  of  the  puritans,  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  the 
good  old  patriarch,  Isaac. 

For  a  long  time,  he  was  the  only  physician  within  many  miles  of 
Westfield.  He  accordingly  provided  himself  with  medical,  as  he  did 
with  theological  and  other  books,  by  transcribing.  I  have  a  small  book 
of  this  kind,  inscribed  on  the  title  page:  "Such  things  as  are  herein 
contained  are  the  Principalls  of  Physick,  as  to  the  practical  part  thereof, 
being  extracts  of  that  famous  Physician,  Riverius." 

It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  add  further  notes  in  his  religious 
and  literary  kbors,  but  I  am  admonished  that  I  have  already  fairly 
subjected  myself  to  the  imputation  of  what  the  old  gentleman  would 
have  denominated  "  cacoethes  scribendi." 

I  will  therefore  close  with  an  extract  from  a  note  written  by  President 
Stiles,  on  some  blank  leaves  of  the  medical  book  just  referred  to. 

Yours  respectfully, 

HENRY  WYLLYS  TAYLOR. 
Great-grandson  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Taylor. 

"  My  mother  was  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Taylor,  A.  M., 
Pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Westfield,  in  Massachusetts. 
He  was  an  excellent  classical  scholar,  being  master  of  the  three 


156  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

learned  languages,  a  great  historian,  and  every  way  a  very  learned 

man In  December,  1671,  being,  as  near  as  I  can  learn,  about 

twenty-nine,  he  began  to  preach  at  Westfield,  where  he  continued  in 
the  ministry  fifty-seven  and  one-half  years,  to  his  death,  June  24,  1729, 
aetat  eighty-seven.  He  married  his  first  wife,  November  19,  1674. 
His  church  was  not  gathered,  nor  was  he  ordained  till  1679,  as  the 
settlement  was  small.  He  had  fourteen  children,  six  of  which  were  by 
Mrs.  Ruth  Wyllys,  a  second  wife,  whom  he  married  June  2,  1692 ; 
one  of  which  six  was  Kezia,  my  mother,  who  left  me,  her  first  and  only 
child,  at  her  death,  December  4,  1727,  M.  twenty-five  and  one-half 
years.  I  was  born  November  29,  1727. 

"The  greater  part  of  grandfather's  library  descended  to  me,  but  did 
not  entirely  come  into  my  hands,  till  after  the  death  of  my  father,  Rev. 

Isaac  Stiles Characteristic  anecdotes,  very  curious  in  botany, 

minerals  and  natural  history.  He  was  an  incessant  student,  but  used 
no  spectacle  glasses  to  his  death.  I  have  a  manuscript  folio  of  six  hun- 
dred pages,  his  commentary  upon  the  Evangelists.  He  was  a  vigorous 
advocate  for  Oliver  Cromwell,  civil  and  religious  liberty.  A  Congre- 
gationalist  in  opposition  to  Presbyterian  church  discipline.  He  was 
physician  for  the  town  all  his  life.  He  concerned  himself  little  about 
domestic  and  secular  affairs.  Attended  to  all  the  public  state  of  the 
provinces  and  the  Parliament ;  greatly  detested  King  James,  Sir  Ed- 
mund Andross-and  Randolph;  gloried  in  King  William  and  the  revo- 
lution of  1688  ;  felt  for  the  dissenters  in  all  their  apprehension  in  Queen 
Ann's  reign,  and  triumphed  in  the  House  of  Hanover.  He  had  a 
steady  correspondence  with  Judge  Sewall  of  Boston,  who  duly  com- 
municated to  him  all  the  transactions  in  the  assembly,  and  occurrences 
in  the  nation. 

"  A  man  of  small  stature,  but  firm  ;  of  quick  passions,  yet  serious  and 
grave.  Exemplary  in  piety,  and  for  a  very  sacred  observance  of  the 
Lord's  day." 

The  late  President  Stiles  of  Yale  College  was  his  grandson ;  and  to 
him  he  gave  many  of  his  manuscript  volumes,  which,  it  is  supposed,  are 
still  in  the  library  of  that  college.  In  one  of  the  medical  books,  which 
he  had  transcribed,  of  those  which  were  loaned  to  him  by  Judge  Sew- 
all,  President  Stiles  wrote  out  the  above  brief  description  of  his  grand- 
father, which  also  was  sent  to  Mr.  Bates,  by  Mr.  Taylor,  in  the  letter 
referred  to ;  and  we  also  copy,  in  extenso,  the  "  model  love-letter,"  ad- 
dressed by  the  parson,  to  Miss  Fitch,  the  young  lady  who  was  probably 
induced  thereby  to  become  his  wife.  Though  the  letter,  to  young  la- 
dies of  the  present  day,  may  not  have  been  interesting,  as  the  story 


APPENDIX.  157 

which  Desdcmona  requested  Othello  to  teach  his  friend  to  tell  to  her, 
yet  there  was  more  theology  in  it ;  and  the  "  pen  and  ink  "  picture  of 
the  dove,  with  the  poetry  inscribed  within  the  marginal  lines  of  its  pe- 
riphery, formed  with  it,  such  a  combination  of  persuasion,  as  to  render 
the  invitation,  what  the  reverend  pastor  probably  intended  it  to  be, — a 
case  of  "effectual  calling."  

A  MODEL  LOVE  LETTER. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  original  letter  among  the  collections 
in  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  written  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Tay- 
lor, of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  July,  1674,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Fitch, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  Fitch,  one  of  the  original  proprietors,  and 
the  first  clergyman  settled  in  the  town  of  Norwich. 

This  letter  was  written  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor  to  Miss  Fitch — re- 
puted to  have  been  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  lady — during  his 
courtship,  and  was  to  have  been  read,  if  opportunity  offered,  at  the  bi- 
centennial dinner,  by  Colonel  George  L.  Perkins,  a  great-great-grand- 
son of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fitch. 

WESTFIELD,  Mass.,  8th  day  of  the  7th  month,  1674. 
MY  DOVE: — I  send  you  not  my  heart,  for  that  I  hope  is  sent  to 
Heaven  long  since,  and  unless  it  has  awfully  deceived  me  it  hath  not 
taken  up  its 'lodgings  in  any  one's  bosom  on  this  side  tne  royal  city  of  the 
Great  King ;  but  yet  the  most  of  it  that  is  allowed  to  be  layed  out  upon 
any  creature  doth  safely  and  singly  fall  to  your  share.  So  much  my 
post  pigeon  presents  you  with  here  in  these  lines.  Look  not  (I  entreat 
you)  on  it  as  one  of  love's  hyperboles.  If  I  borrow  the  beams  of  some 
sparkling  metaphor  to  illustrate  my  respects  unto  thyself  by,  for  you 
having^ made  my  breast  the  cabinet  of  your  affections  as  I  yours  mine, 
I  know  not  how  to  offer  a  fitter  comparison  to  set  out  my  love  by,  than 
to  compare  it  unto  a  golden  ball  of  pure  fire  rolling  up  and  down  my 
breast,  from  which  there  flies  now  and  then  a  spark  like  a  glorious  beam 
from  the  body  of  the  flaming  sun.  But  alas !  striving  to  catch  these 
sparks  into  a  love  letter  unto  yourself,  and  to  gild  it  with  them  as  with 
a  sun  beam,  find,  that  by  what  time  they  have  fallen  through  my  pen 
upon  my  paper,  they  have  lost  their  shine  and  fall  only  like  a  little 
smoke  thereon  instead  of  gilding  them.  Wherefore,  finding  myself  so 
much  deceived,  I  am  ready  to  begrudge  my  instruments,  for  though  my 
love  within  my  breast  is  so  large  that  my  heart  is  not  sufficient  to  con- 
tain it,  yet  they  can  make  it  no  more  room  to  ride  into,  than  to  squeeze 
it  up  betwixt  my  black  ink  and  white  paper.  But  know  that  it  is  the 


158  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

coarsest  part  that  is  couchant  there,  for  the  finest  is  too  fine  to  clothe  in 
any  linguist  and  huswifry,  or  to  be  expressed  in  words,  and  though  this 
letter  bears  but  the  coarsest  part  to  you,  yet  the  purest  is  improved  for 
you.  But  now,  my  dear  love,  lest  my  letter  should  be  judged  the  lav- 
ish language  of  a  lover's  pen,  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  that  conjugal 
love  ought  to  exceed  all  other  love.  1st,  appears  from  that  which  it 
represents,  viz:  The  respect  there  is  betwixt  Christ  and  his  church, 
Eph.  5th,  25th,  although  it  differs  from  that  in  kind;  for  that  is  spirit- 
ual and  this  human,  and  in  degree,  that  is  boundless  and  transcendent, 
this  limited  and  subordinate ;  yet  it  holds  out  that  this  should  be  cor- 
dial and  with  respect  to  all  other  transcendent.  2d,  Because  conjugal 
love  is  the  ground  of  conjugal  union,  or  conjugal  sharing  the  effects  of 
this  love,  is  also  a  ground  of  this  union.  3d,  From  those  Christian 
duties  which  are  incumbent  on  persons  in  this  state  as  not  only  a  serv- 
ing God  together,  a  praying  together,  a  joining  in  the  ruling  and  in- 
structing their  family  together,  which  could  not  be  carried  on  as  it  should 
be  without  a  great  degree  of  true  love,  and  also  a  mutual  giving  each 
other  to  each  other,  a  mutual  succoring  each  other  in  all  states,  ails, 
grievances;  and  how  can  this  be  when  there  is  not  a  love  exceeding  all 
other  love  to  any  creature  ?  And  hereby  if  persons  in  this  state  have 
not  love  exceeding  all  love,  it's  with  them  for  the  most  part  as  with  the 
strings  of  an  instrument  not  tuned  up,  when  struck  upon  makes  but  a 
jarring,  harsh  Sound.  But  when  we  get  the  wires  of  an  instrument 
equally  drawn  up,  and  rightly  struck  upon,  sound  together,  make  sweet 
music  whose  harmony  doth  enravish  the  ear ;  so  when  the  golden  strings 
of  true  affection  are  struck  up  into  a  right  conjugal  love,  thus  sweetly 
doth  this  state  then  harmonize  to  the  comfort  of  each  other  and  to  the 
glory  of  God  when  sanctified.  But  yet,  the  conjugal  love  must  exceed 
all  other,  yet  it  must  be  kept  within  bounds,  for  it  must  be  subordinate 
to  God's  glory;  the  which  that  mine  may  be  so,  it  having  got  you  in  its 
heart,  doth  offer  my  heart  with  you  in  it  as  a  more  rich  sacrifice  into 
God  through  Christ,  and  so  it  subscribeth  me, 

Your  true  love  till  death, 

EDWARD  TAYLOR. 
This  for  my  friend  and  only  beloved 

Miss  ELIZABETH  FITCH, 
at  her  father's  house  in  Norwich. 

The  reader  of  this  letter,  does  not  fully  appreciate  it,  and  can  not  do 
so,  without  seeing  the  fac-simile  of  it.  An  imperfect  description  can 
not  dt>  justice  to  it.  The  reverend  gentleman  brought  the  fine  arts  to 


APPENDIX.  159 

his  aid ;  and  rightly  so,  for  love  itself  is  one  of  the  fine  arts,  and  is  so 
denominated  by  one  of  the  old  Roman  poets. 

Our  types  do  not  allow  us  to  copy  the  pictorial  illustrations ;  but  our 
readers  may  fancy  a  "pen  and  ink  sketch"  of  what  he  calls  a  dove,  in 
the  lower  corner  of  the  letter,  of  the  size  of  an  old-fashioned  ninepence, 
without  feathers,  and  looking  like  a  plucked  chicken.  It  was  necessary 
to  denude  it  of  its  feathers,  to  have  room  to  inscribe  upon  the  side  of 
its  body  the  following  couplet : 

This  dove  and  olive  branch  to  you 
Is  both  a  post  and  emblem  too. 


EMIGRATION  FROM  WESTFIELD  TO  LEWIS  COUNTY,  N.  Y. 

We  have  received  from  W.  Hudson  Stephens,  a  lawyer  in  Lowville, 
a  descendant  of  one  of  the  first  settlers,  a  long  and  interesting  letter 
of  fifteen  pages,  detailing  the  history  of  the  settlement  of  this  flourish- 
ing county.  We  should  be  glad  to  insert  the  whole  letter,  but  our 
limits  forbid  it.  We,  however,  insert  several  extracts  from  it,  which,  we 
think,  will  be  read  with  great  interest.  The  example  of  their  emigra- 
tion is  only  a  continuing  exhibition  of  the  pervading  spirit  of  the  peo- 
ple of  that  period.  It  seemed  to  be  a  part  of  their  very  life,  not  to 
rest ;  but,  when  a  local  habitation  was  once  established,  to  look  forward, 
and  spy  out  another  place  to  go  to.  The  emigrants  to  Lewis  County, 
were  established  in  the  south-westerly  part  of  the  town,  in  and  near, 
what  has  been  called,  appropriately,  "honey-pot;"  but,  a  land,  flow- 
ing with  milk  and  honey,  was  not  sufficient  for  them.  The  wilds  of 
Western  New  York,  the  vicinity  of  Indian  tribes,  at  times  hostile, 
but,  at  all  times,  harrassing  neighbors,  a  life  of  deprivation  and  toil, 
in  "  the  forests'  primeval,"  and  a  separation  from  the  society  and  com- 
forts of  civilized  life,  were  rather  to  be  preferred,  to  the  safety,  the 
quiet,  and  the  prosperity,  which  here  were  within  their  reach.  We 
hope  that  the  whole  document  of  Mr.  Stephens'  will  be  published, 
inasmuch  as  it  throws  additional  light  upon  the  history  of  those  times. 

From  Westfield,  a  considerable  emigration  took  place  at  the  close  of 
the  last  and  commencement  of  the  present  century,  into  what  was  then 
known  as  "The  Black  River  Country,"  in  what  is  now  (1869)  Lewis 
County,  N.  Y.  Many  of  the  emigrants  became  permanent  residents 
and  prominent  citizens. 

By  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix,  (22  Sept.  1788,)  this  county  was 
ceded  to  the  State  of  New  York,  by  the  Oneida  Indians,  and  became 
open  soon  after  to  settlement.  No  map  earlier  than  17(J5,  bad  any 
trace  of  the  Black  River,  which  empties,  after  a  north-westerly  course 


ieio 


WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 


in  Lewis  County,  into  Lake  Ontario ;  and  as  late  as  1796,  Morse  in 
his  geography  represents  this  river  as  flowing  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  at 
Oswegatchie,  now  Ogdensburgh.  Fort  Schuyler  (Utica),  on  the  Mo- 
hawk ;  Whitestown  just  west  of  Utica ;  and  the  residence  of  Baron 
Steuben,  on  the  tract  donated  to  him,  on  the  route  to  the  now  Lyons 
Falls,  (the  ancient  "  establishment "  of  the  French  Company),  were 
then  the  principal  "  settlements"  in  the  then  western  part  of  New  York 
State. 

Almost  immediately  on  its  abandonment  by  the  forlorn  and  disheart- 
ened Frenchmen,  in  tho  fall  of  '96,  the  tide  of  "  WESTFIELD  "  emi- 
gration set  into  the  Black  River  country. 

In  1797,  the  town  of  Leyden  had  a  few  settlers,  and  Lowville,  now 
the  county  seat  of  Lewis  County,  New  York,  was  thrown  open  for  set- 
tlement June  2,  1797.  Ehud  Stephens  from  Westfield  took  the  first 
contract,  for  four  hundred  acres,  in  Lowville,  at  three  dollars  per  acre. 
Returning  east  early  in  1798,  Stephens  and  Jonathan  Rogers,  (son  of 
Jonathan  who  died  at  Westfield,  March,  1805,  aged  ninety  years,)  left 
their  homes,  and  reaching  Lyons  Falls,  on  the  Black  River,  embarked 
with  their  families  and  goods  April  10,  1798,  on  a  flatrbottomed 
boat  constructed  by  themselves,  twenty-five  feet  long  by  seven  wide, 
by  the  aid  of  pit  saws  borrowed  of  the  remaining  French  settlers, 
and  floated  with  the  stream  in  a  clear  day  down  the  Black  River  to 
Lowville,  where  they  spent  the  first  night  in  a  shanty  erected  in  the 
woods  the  preceding  season.  On  board  this  pioneer  boat,  from  West- 
field,  were  Johnathan  Rogers  and  his  children  Bela,  Polly  and  Isaac ; 
Ehud  Stephens  and  his  wife  Mercy,  and  children  Clarrissa,  Apollos  and 
Harvey  and  Zebulon  Rogers.  On  the  voyage  Clarrissa  Stephens  was 
swept  off  the  boat  by  overhanging  trees,  but  was  rescued. 

The  settlement  thus  begun  in  the  center  of  Lewis  County,  continued 
to  flourish.  Lowville  is  now  the  county  seat,  the  terminus  of  a  railroad, 
and  the  chief  trading,  financial,  legal  and  educational  center  of  Lewis 
County. 

Among  others  who  settled  from  Westfield  were  Ehud  Stevens,  Rufus 
Stephens,  his  father,  Harvey  Stephens,  Ira  Stephens,  Truman  Stephens, 
Col.  Zeboam  Carter,  of  the  One  Hundred  and  First  Regiment  in  1812, 
Silas  Dewey,  William  Dewey,  Bela  Buel,  Putnam  Buel,  Orem  Bush, 
Silas  Weller,  Rev.  Isaac  Clinton,  who  removed  from  his  pastorate  at 
Southwick  to  Lowville,  John  Bush,  George  A.  Stoddard,  Silas  Bush, 
William  Sacket,  Eli  Rogers,  Enoch  Lee,  Captain  Winthrop  Shepard, 
Major  Ezra  Clapp,  Winthrop  Weller,  Ichabod  Tuttle,  Philemon  Hoad- 
ley,  Dr.  Walter  Dewey,  who  built  the  first  house  in  Turin,  Major  Zack- 


APPENDIX.  16.1 

ariah  Bush,  Justus  Woolworth,  Collins  Kellogg,  Silas  Kellogg,  Edward 
Bancroft,  Samuel  Dean,  Justus  Sacket,  Stephen  Root,  Reuben  Pitcher, 
Levi  Adams,  Roland  Buell,  Bradford  Levi,  Richard  Russell,  Jr., 
Joseph  and  Elisha  Arthur,  sons  of  Richard  Arthur,  and  five  daughters 
of  said  Richard,  and  William  King,  all  these  were  the  settlers  in  Lewis 
County,  and  they  and  their  descendants  are  among  the  prominent  citi- 
zens in  the  different  towns  of  that  county  and  the  vicinity. 

The  celebrated  land  purchase  of  Alexander  McComb  of  3,670,715 
acres,  included  the  entire  area  of  Lewis  County.  Upon  the  close  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  the  uncertainty  of  the  frontiers,  and  refusal  of 
the  British  to  surrender  their  military  posts,  had  a  depressing  influence 
upon  the  first  attempt  to  settle  upon  their  purchase,  the  Indians  at  Fort 
Regis  driving  off  the  first  intruders.  Indeed,  the  British  at  Fort  Os- 
wego,  as  late  as  1792,  denied  permission  to  Des  Jardines,  Pharoux 
and  Brunei,  to  pass  into  the  Black  River  country,  on  the  lands  of 
the  Castorland  French  Company,  who  owned  210,000  acres,  and  the 
management  of  which  was  located  in  Paris,  France.  Des  Jardines, 
who  had  been  chamberlain  to  Louis  XVI.,  and  Pharoux,  a  gentleman 
distinguished  in  science,  were  commissaries  of  the  company,  while 
Brunei  was  the  surveyor,  and  was  afterwards  constructor  of  govern- 
ment dock-yards,  and  the  tunnel  under  the  Thames,  in  London, 
England. 

The  French  settlement  began  in  '92,  and  operations  of  the  com- 
pany closed  in  '96;  Pharoux  having  been  drowned  in  the  Black 
River,  Des  Jardines,  who  states  he  aspired  to  be  called  "  the  father  of 
the  country,"  being  supplanted  by  Tillier,  and  Brunei  returning  to 
Europe. 

In  looking  over  the  manuscript  of  Mr.  Stephens,  we  were  struck 
with  the  longevity  of  these  emigrants,  and  their  prolifical  character. 
He  gives  the  ages  and  number  of  children  of  these  early  settlers,  and 
it  was  generally  the  case,  that  they  reached  the  age  of  eighty  years,  and 
left  a  round  dozen  of  children  for  each  family. 


EXTINGUISHMENT  OF  THE  INDIAN  TITLE. 

The  conduct  of  the  early  settlers,  in  buying  up  the  title  of  the  In- 
dians, is  highly  to  their  credit.  No  doubt  that  they  made  a  good  bar- 
gain, but,  after  all,  it  was  a  bargain.  It  was  the  union  of  two  minds, 
of  two  parties  able  and  willing  to  contract;  and,  in  the  case  of  the  set- 
tlers of  Woronoco,  the  price  paid  was  a  good  one,  considering  that  it 
was  a  disputed  title.  It  appears  already  in  this  volume,  that,  in  two 
21 


162  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

years  after  the  date  of  the  deed,  a  copy  of  which  we  publish  below,  this 
same  sachem  Alquat,  and  Wollump,  his  son,  made  complaint,  that 
Amoakisson,  claiming  to  be  seized  in  fee,  of  land  claimed  by  them,  had 
conveyed  the  same  to  Lieut.  Cooper;  and  though  the  bounds  are  not 
given,  yet,  it  is  evident,  that  there  were  conflicting  jurisdictions  between 
the  sachem  of  Woronoke  and  Pochasuck,  as  Alquat  describes  himself, 
in  the  deed,  and  Amoakisson.  We  have  not  examined  the  records  of 
Hampshire  for  the  petition,  and  know  not  of  the  subsequent  proceed- 
ings, after  the  reference  to  it,  by  order  of  the  council.  [Vid. :  Mr.  Bates' 
address,  p.  55,  in  this  volume,  and  Records  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  4, 
part  2,  pp.  504,  505.]  The  deed  was  discovered  by  Mr.  John  B.  Ban- 
croft, one  of  our  inhabitants,  and  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  original 
settlers  of  the  town,  in  a  package  of  old  papers  in  his  house ;  and  he 
communicated  it  to  The  Westfield  Times,  in  which  it  was  published, 
September  22,  1869.  The  deed  is  a  valuable  one,  and  Mr.  Bancroft 
has  received  several  tempting  offers  for  it.  But,  in  his  opinion,  an 
aboriginal  document,  the  oldest  known  to  exist  in  the  recorded  history 
of  our  titles,  deserves  rather  a  frame  in  the  Athenaeum  of  our  town, 
than  in  the  archives  of  some  foreign  antiquary. 


[We  copy  from  the   Times,  the  following.'] 
AN  ABORIGINAL  DOCUMENT. 

We  give  below  a  true  and  attested  copy  of  the  original  deed  of  trans- 
fer from  the  Indians  to  the  old  settlers,  of  a  large  tract  of  land  lying 
between  "  Little  and  Great  Rivers."  It  will  be  read  with  especial  in- 
terest just  at  this  time.  It  was  found  by  John  B.  Bancroft  in  a  pack- 
age of  old  papers  which  he  had  in  the  house.  It  is  a  true  copy  of  the 
original  deed,  and  was  certified  to  by  Isaac  Phelps,  Town  Clerk,  June 
30, 1669.  This  is  the  oldest  document,  relating  to  the  history  of  the 
town,  in  the  "  original  package,"  that  we  have  yet  seen.  But  let  the 
"old  settlers"  search  their  garrets;  there  is  no  knowing  what  may 
"turn  up." 

These  presants  testifi  That  Alquat  the  Indian  Sachem  of  waranoake 
and  pochasuck  for  &  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  forty  Pounds  in 
english  act  being  so  much  sterling  to  him  in  hand  before  ye  sealing  & 
Delivery  hear  of  well  &  truly  Payed  by  ye  Capt  John  Pynchon  of 
Springfield  for  &  in  behalf  of  Capt  Aron  Cook,  Mr  James  Cornish 
Mr  Joseph  Whiting  Geo  Phelps  Tho  Noble  David  Ashley  John  Roote 
&  other  ye  Inhabitants  of  waranoake  alais  Westfield.  The  Recipt 
whare  of  the  sd  Alquat  Doth  Acknolidg  by  these  presents  and  thare- 


APPENDIX.  163 

with  to  be  fully  satisfyed  &  contented  hath  Given  Granted  Bargained 
&  sold  &  by  these  presents  Doth  fully  &  clearlly  and  absolutely  Give 
grant  Bargain  &  sell  unto  Capt  Aron  Cooke  Mr  James  Cornish  Mr 
Joseph  Whiting  George  Phelps  Tho  Noble  David  Ashley  John  Roote 
of  Westfield  alias  waranoake  aforesad  For  themselves  and  ye  Present 
Inhabitants  of  ye  aforesad  Place  or  Plantation  and  theire  successors  & 
assignes  from  time  to  time  &  unto  their  hires  For  ever  according  as 
theire  severall  Proportions  or  Divisions  shall  be  laid  out  &  proportined 
to  them.  A  certain  Parcel  or  tract  of  Land  Meddo  &  wood  Land  ly- 
ing &  being  at  waranoake  aforesd  on  ye  south  side  of  woranoake  River 
ye  greate  River  &  on  ye  North  or  northerly  side  of  ye  Little  River  or 
Foart  River  adjoining  on  ye  southeast,  East  and  North  east  on  Land 
formerly  Purched  by  Saml  Marshfield  of  Springfield  for  the  Inhabi- 
tants of  Westfield  aforesd  and  on  ye  south  and  souwest  on  ye  Little 
River  affoar  named- comonly  called  the  fort  River  on  ye  North  or  North- 
erly it  is  bounded  by  ye  greate  River  called  woranoak  River  &  so  Run- 
ing  up  waranoak  river  to  ye  falls  near  about  a  mile  above  ye  present 
Housen  to  a  marked  tree  thare  and  from  that  marked  tree  it  runs  off 
westerly  or  souwesterly  upon  a  straight  line  to  the  Little  River  or  fort 
River  to  a  stone  at  ye  Nooke  or  Poynt  whare  all  ye  good  land  ends  & 
whare  going  up  ye  hill  the  pine  plaine  begins  the  sd  common  or  Pine 
Plain  being  ye  westerly  or  Norwesterly  bounds  of  this  tract  of  Land 
ye  line  of  Division  being  run  by  several  English  going  a  long  with  ye 
Indian  from  ye  fawls  in  the  greate  River  over  to  that  stone  afore  named 
which  is  on  the  top  of  the  hill  by  the  Little  River  whare  the  Pine  plaine 
begins  To  have  and  to  hold  all  ye  Parcel  or  tract  of  Land  before 
mentioned  containing  severall  Hundrid  acres  with  all  ye  profits  and 
apurtinances  thareupon  or  thareunto  belonging  to  the  sd  Capt  Cooke 
James  Cornish  Joseph  Whiting  Geo  Phelps  Tho  Noble  David  Ashley 
and  John  Roote  for  ye  Inhabitnts  of  Westfield  aforsd  according  as  Di- 
vision thareof  shall  be  made  to  them  &  their  hires  &  assignees  for  ever 
only  Reserving  &  Exemting  oute  of  ye  presant  sale  seven  acres  of 
Meddo  Land  for  Wollunp,  son  of  sd  Alquat,  which  seven  acres  resarved 
and  exemted  Lyes  in  a  nooke  by  ye  Little  River  &  against  land  now 
Divided  and  Proportioned  to  Mr  Joseph  Whiting  &  is  to  be  at  the  soul 
dispose  of  the  sd  Alquat  &  Wollump  all  so  Reserving  Liberty  for  In- 
dians to  fish  &  take  foull  and  ye  sd  Alquat  Doth  covenant  and  premise 
to  and  with  ye  sd  Capt  Cooke  James  Cornish  Mr  Joseph  Whiting  Geo 
Phelps  Tho  Noble  David  Ashley  &  John  Root  that  he  will  save  them 
harmles  from  all  manner  of  claim  of  any  person  or  persons  Lawfully 
claiming  any  right  title  or  intrest  in  the  premises  otherwise  than  ye 


164  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Reserve  or  exemption  of  ye  seven  acres  aforesd  for  Wollump  In  wit- 
ness whereof  the  sd  Alquat  hath  hearunto  affixed  his  hand  and  seall 
this  30th  day  of  June  1669. 

Subscribed  sealed  &  Delivered  in  ye  presence  of  Samuel  Marshfield, 
William  Brooks  Timothy  Cooper  John  Watson, 
the  mark  of  Indian  witnesses 

Wollump,  his  mark 

Wollamunt,  his  mark  f 
The  mark  of  Al  8  quat. 

Alquat  ye  indian  Sachem  acknowledge  this  instrument  to  be  his  act 
and  deed  this  present  30th  of  June,  1669  before  mee  John  Pynchon 
of  Springfield. 

Attested  by  me  Isaac  Phelps, 

Town  Clerk. 
(A  true  copy  of  ye  original  deed.) 


ANOTHER    ANCIENT    DEED. 

We  give  below,  another  "  old  tyme  "  document  which  was  brought 
to  light  through  the  research  of  Mr.  John  B.  Bancroft.  It  bears  date 
of  October  18,  1702,  and  was  a  transfer  of  certain  real  estate  by 
Joseph  Atherton  of  Northampton,  to  Nathaniel  Bancroft,  grandfather 
of  Capt.  John  Bancroft,  who  built  the  first  brick  dwelling-house  in 
Hampden  County,  which  Barnum  Perry  now  occupies.  The  document 
covers  the  present  homesteads  of  Joseph  Coburn,  David  Perry,  Barnum 
Perry,  Joseph  Woolworth,  Rodney  Cowles,  Charles  L.  Atkins,  and  a 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Bancroft  heirs.  Some 
four  hundred  acres  were  subsequently  added  by  Capt.  John,  to  the 
original  purchase,  which  is  included  in  the  property  owned  by  the  per- 
sons named  : 

To  All  Parsons  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come,  Greeting,  know  : 
yee  that  Joseph  Atherton  of  northampton  In  the  County  Hampshire  In 
her  majesties  province  of  the  massacusets  Bay,  In  america  Coxwainer 
for  And  In  consideration  of  six  pounds  currant  money  already  received 
from  Nathl  Bancraft  ser.  of  Westfield  In  sd  County :  hath  on  this  fif- 
teenth Day  of  septerno  Ann  Dom  1702  Anng  Regn  Regina  Anna  Nunc 
Angl  primo :  Given  Granted  Barganed  sold  and  fully  and  absolutely 
passed  over  unto  sd  Nathaniel  baneraft  A  certain  parcell  of  Land  Ly- 
ing within  the  bounds  of  westfield  In  a  place  called  Pogassuck  being 
about  the  eleventh  part  of  a  farm  of  four  hundred  acres,  it  Being  His 


APPENDIX.  165 

whole  share  In  that  farm,  as  it  Lyes  In  common  with  others  and  yet 
undivided  And  which  Land  however  butted  or  hereafter  upon  division 
may  be  butted  and  Bounded  containing  about  thirty-eight  acres  be  it 
more  or  less  :  the  aboue  sd  Joseph  Atherton  doth  for  himself  and  heirs 
give  and  grant  bargain  and  sell  And  by  these  presents  hath  given 
granted  Demissed  enfeofieed  alienated  conveyed  Bargained  sold  and 
firmly  freely  fully  absolutely  and  clearly  passed  over  unto  The  aboue 
sd  Nath  Bancraft  his  heir  successors,  and  Assigors  To  Have  And  To 
Hold :  possess  and  Injoy  and  by  virtue  hereof  shall  at  all  times  here- 
after quietly  and  peaceably  hold  occupie  possess  and  Injoy  the  same  full 
and  clear  And  clearly  acquitted  and  discharged  of  and  from  all,  and 
all  manner  of  former  and  other  gifts  grants  bargains  sales  Leases  Leg- 
acies mortgages  Joynters  Dowries  titles  of  Inheritance  and  of  every  other 
Incumbrance  whsoever  Hereby  given  unto  sd  Baneraft  for  himself  and 
heirs  quiet  And  peaceable  possession  of  aboue  sd  Land  with  all  its 
Privilidges  benefits  advantages  Commonages  conveniances  Rights  Lib- 
erties hereditiments  Emoluments  ways  passages  waters  Springs  Trees 
timber  stone  and  of  all  and  every  other  appertainance  thereunto  yield- 
ing Resigning  Releasing  quit  claiming  Discharging  and  Delivering  All 
his  Right  title  privilidg  claime  and  Interest  In  or  unto  the  aboue  sd 
Lands  unto  the  sd  Nath  Bancraft  his  heirs  and  Assigns  forever  And  the 
sd  Joseph  Atherton  doth  for  himselfe  and  heirs  covenant  Promise  And 
engage  to  and  with  sd  Nath  Bancraft  that  at  the  time  of  his  subscrib- 
ing to  and  sealing  of  this  Instrument  and  untill  Delivery  thereoff  he 
was  the  true  real  sole  and  proper  owner  of  the  Aboue  sd  Lands  and 
stood  Lawfully  seazed  and  possessed  thereof  having  in  himselfe  full 
power  And  Lawful  authority  to  sell  grant  convey  and  Assure  the  same 
as  a  good  pfect  and  Absolute  estate  of  Inheritance  In  Fee  simple  with- 
out any  manner  of  condition  revertidn  or  Limitation  So  as  to  alter  change 
defeat  reverse  or  anyway,  as  to  make  null  and  void  The  sale  thereof 
And  that  he  and  his  heirs  will  and  shall  at  all  times  Hereafter :  defend 
warrant  and  maintain  the  same  to  and  agst  all  and  Every  pson  or  par- 
sons Laying  any  Lawful  claim  or  challeng  thereunto  hereby  declaring  the 
aboue  sd  Land  and  all  and  singular  the  premises  To  be  the  true  real 
and  proper  estate  of  the  aboue  sd  Nath  Bancroft  his  heirs  and  success- 
ors the  which  he  or  they  may  Record  or  enroll  To  themselves  or  make 
over  by  deed  or  will  to  any  other  parson  whomsoever  And  for  the  bet- 
ter assurance  and  confirmation  thereof  the  aboue  sd  Joseph  Atherton 
doth  engage  himselfe  and  heirs  further  to  do  or  cause  To  be  done  such 
act  or  acts  thing  or  things  device  or  devices  as  sd  Bancraft  or  his  heirs 
shall  devise  advise  contrive  or  reasonable  desire  At  his  or  their  own 


166  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

proper  cost  and  charge :  In  witness  whereof  he  Hath  hereunto  sub- 
scribed his  name  and  fixed  his  seal  the  day  and  year  aforesd 

JOSEPH  ATHEBTON. 
Signed  sealed  And  Delivered  In  presence  of  us: 

(  Joseph  Hauley, 
•<  Ebneezr  Pumrey, 
(  John  Gowdans, 

Joseph  A.  Atherton  parsonally  Appeared  this  18th  Day  of  Oct.  1702 
Before  me  the  subscriber  one  of  the  Majesties  Justice  of  Peace  for  the 
County  of  Hampshire  And  did  Acknowledg  This  Instrument  to  be  His 
Act  and  Deed.  Cora 

JOSEPH  HAULEY. 

May  3rd  1715.  Received  and  recorded  in  the  Records  of  the 
County  of  Hampshire  Book  No.  6  page  68th. 

JOHN  PYNCHON,  Regtr. 


PICTURES   OF  WESTFIELD  AS  IT  WAS. 

There  have  been  published,  during  the  past,  and  a  portion  of  the 
present  year,  in  The  Wesljield  Times,  several  numbers  of  articles  with 
the  above  title.  They  have  reached  already  forty-one  in  number; 
and  it  is  expected  that  the  series  will  be  continued  during  the  autumn 
and  winter.  It  has  been  suggested,  that,  though  they  were  hastily 
written  for  the  columns  of  a  newspaper,  yet,  as  they  relate  to  the  former 
growth  of  the  town,  and  to  the  men  who  have  lived  here,  and  con- 
tributed to  its  growth,  it  is  desirable  to  collect  and  republish  them,  for 
the  use  of  the  present  and  former  citizens.  They  cannot  be  said  to 
belong,  appropriately,  to  this  volume ;  and  yet,  in  some  respects,  they 
are  germane  to  the  nature  of  some  of  the  documents  and  records, 
which  we  have  already  published.  We  have  concluded,  therefore,  to 
insert  a  few  numbers  of  the  " Pictures; "  and  undoubtedly  some  of  the 
old  inhabitants  will  recognize  the  originals,  from  whom  they  were  drawn. 


No.  1. — Court  street,  extending  from  the  Green,  as  far  west  as  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  contained,  within  the  recollection  of  the  writer, 
only  the  following  dwellings  : 

Beginning  on  the  north  side,  and  going  west,  there  was,  first,  the 
residence  of  Hon.  Samuel  Fowler,  Esq.,  which  stood  near  the  present 
residence  of  Hon.  James  Fowler,  his  son.  The  second  house  was  the 


APPENDIX.  167 

Boise  place,  then  occupied  by  John  Ingersoll,  Esq.,  clerk  of  the  court. 
The  third  house  was  a  small  building  near  the  south  end  of  Washing- 
ton street,  which  did  not  long  abide  there.  The  fourth  was  the  Caleb 
Weller  house,  so  called,  now  occupied  by  T.  P.  Collins,  and  then  owned 
by  Elijah  Bates,  Esq.  The  fifth  was  the  Jared  Weller  place,  on  the 
top  of  Pine  Hill,  the  house  where  Eagar  Weller  now  lives.  From 
thence,  the  road  ran  a  distance  of  nearly  four  miles  through  an  unbroken 
forest,  to  Ezra  Sackett's,  where  his  son  Roland  lives;  and  next  was 
Stephen  Sackett's,  or  Landlord  Sackett's,  in  which  house  now  lives  Mr. 
P.  Atwater.  Returning  on  the  south  side  of  the  street,  was  the  "  Two- 
chimney  house,"  a  large  dwelling,  opposite  the  cemetery,  the  cellar  of 
which  is  still  visible.  Next,  at  the  foot  of  Cemetery  Hill,  at  "The 
Elms,"  was  the  old  "Landlord  Holcomb  house,"  a  large  establishment, 
where  H.  B.  Smith's  house  now  stands.  It  was  kept  as  a  sort  of  tav- 
ern ;  and  report  said,  that  people  used  to  assemble  there  for  the  playing 
of  cards.  "The  landlord"  was  careful  not  to  have  gaming  in  his  do- 
mains ;  and  when  the  fires  were  kindled,  and  the  tables  set  out,  he  used 
to  put  down  the  cards  with  great  solemnity,  pronouncing  these  words  at 
the  same  time  :  "  There,  gentlemen,  I  forbid  your  using  these  cards  in 
my  house,  in  gambling,  or  at  any  unlawful  game ! "  It  is  presumed 
that  this  adjuration  was  heeded,  as  I  never  heard  of  any  consequent 
prosecution.  The  next  house  was  at  the  foot  of  Pine  Hill,  occupied  by 
Horace  Holcomb,  and  the  same  building  now  standing  near  its  then  site. 
Then  next  was  the  Royal  Weller  place,  at  the  old  Pine-tree,  at  the  end 
of  Day  avenue.  Next  east  was  the  Oliver  Weller  house,  a  one-story 
building,  where  Seth  Cowles'  new  house  now  stands.  A  little  distance 
east  was  the  Stephen  Ashley  house,  on  the  ground  of  H.  Hooker;  and 
still  east,  a  small  house  on  C.  I.  Snow's  lot,  occupied  by  William  P. 
Hodgett.  The  old  Dr.  William  Holland  place,  subsequently  owned  by 
Dr.  James  Holland,  was  then  on  its  present  site ;  as  was  also  the  house 
of  Elijah  Bates,  Esq.,  in  the  shadow  of  the  three  beautiful  elms,  which, 
though  young,  gave  promise  of  all  their  present  beauty.  Next  east  was 
the  old  Israel  Moseley  house,  which  was  demolished  in  1833  by  Hon. 
William  G.  Bates,  to  make  room  for  his  present  residence.  Next  is  the 
Abel  Whitney  house,  since  owned  by  Dr.  William  Atwater,  and  now  by 
Dr.  James  Holland.  On  the  easterly  corner  of  the  lot  stood  a  one- 
story  building,  occupied  by  Elijah  Bates  as  a  law  office,  and  by  other 
persons  as  a  drug  and  grocery  store. 

On  the  corner,  where  the  Morgan  house  now  stands,  was  the  mansion 
of  the  late  John  Phelps,  Esq.  These  were  all  the  buildings  then  on 
this  broad  and  beautiful  street.  In  other  respects  the  changes  are  worthy 


108  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

of  notice,  as  showing  the  improved  taste  of  the  age.  There  were  then 
no  streets  branching  off  from  it ;  no  Washington  street,  or  Bates  street, 
or  Pleasant  street,  or  Day  avenue ;  but  the  cows  fed,  where  now  stand 
the  beautiful  houses  which  are  the  homes  for  a  busy  population.  A  re- 
markable feature  of  change  is  apparent  in  the  adornment  of  the  trees. 
There  were  then  the  elm  in  the  yard  of  Mr.  Fowler,  four  or  five  syc- 
amores on  the  Phelps  place,  in  line  with  the  magnificent  denizen  in  the 
corner  of  Mr.  Bates'  homestead,  a  butternut  in  front  of  Dr.  Atwater 's, 
the  three  noble  elms  in  front  of  the  E.  Bates  place,  and  one  elm  in  front 
of  the  Dr.  Holland  place.  Further  on  was  the  0.  Weller  old  pine,  and 
two  trees  at  the  T.  P.  Collins  place.  But  those  were  all.  The  branch- 
ing elms  in  the  centre  and  along  the  sides  of  this  broad  avenue,  which 
overarch  the  street,  and  interlace  their  branches,  are  all  a  recent  im- 
provement. It  may  be  interesting  to  know  the  ages  of  some  of  these 
noble  trees.  The  three  elms  at  the  E.  Bates  place  were  planted  in  1800, 
and  the  one  in  front  of  the  Holland  place,  though  so  much  smaller,  the 
same  year ;  the  two  elms  near  C.  I.  Snow's,  in  1830 ;  the  elm  in  front 
of  S.  Fowler's,  and  the  two  in  front  of  William  G.  Bates',  in  1835. 

In  a  future  number,  we  shall  continue  our  reminiscences  of  this  old 
town,  and  of  its  old  inhabitants. 


No.  2. — We  continue  our  pictiires,  by  a  notice  of  some  of  the  people, 
who  lived  in  Court  street.  Beginning  in  the  order  of  the  residences,  we 
take  first  the  Hon.  Samuel  Fowler.  He  was  the  father  of  Hon.  James 
Fowler,  and  Mrs.  Francis  F.  Dwight,  of  Stockbridge.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  wealth  and  influence,  the  leader  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
this  town,  and  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  county.  His  real  estate 
was  large  and  valuable,  and  he  devoted  his  time,  during  the  latter  part 
of  his  life,  to  its  agricultural  improvement.  He  died  in  1823.  It  is 
related  that  one  Holcomb,  on  election-day,  asked  him  "who  our  party 
was  going  to  vote  for."  He  mentioned  the  names  of  Gov.  Eustis  and 
William  King  (then  of  Maine).  Holcomb  pondered  over  it,  somewhat 
in  doubt.  At  last  he  said,  "  Esquire  Fowler,  I  don't  exactly  like  to 
vote  for  Bill  King.  He  is  a  funny  kind  of  a  deputy  sheriff,  always 
playing  tricks  on  people.  For  my  part,  I  should  rather  vote  for  some 
sober  kind  of  a  man,  like  Col.  Welles." 

Opposite  to  him  lived  Dr.  William  Atwater,  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College,  1807,  and  a  son  of  Rev.  Noah  Atwater,  the  predecessor  of 
Rev.  Isaac  Knapp.  He  was  a  learned  physician,  of  large  practice,  and 
a  most  interesting  man.  To  his  last  days  he  was  full  of  wit  and  humor ; 


APPENDIX.  169 

and  it  is  said  that  these  qualities  were  as  efficacious  as  his  pills.  Such 
medicine  certainly  is  more  agreeable  to  take  !  Upon  the  return  of  Par- 
son Knapp,  from  a  summer  excursion,  he  met  the  doctor,  a  few  miles 
out,  and  inquired  of  him,  in  his  somewhat  formal  manner,  "Well, 
doctor,  how  is  all  my  flock  ?"  The  reply  was,  "  I  believe  they  are  all 
right,  except  that  some  of  your  old  rams  and  ewes  have  broken  out  of 
pasture."  Dr.  Atwater  died  in  1833,  leaving  one  son,  William,  in 
New  York,  John  in  this  town,  and  Harriet  Campbell  of  Pittsfield. 

John  Ingersoll,  Esq.,  was  a  native  of  this  town,  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College,  1790,  and  a  lawyer.  He  married  a  lady  from  the  West  Indies, 
and  had  a  large  family.  When  the  old  County  of  Hampden  was  di- 
vided, he  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  Courts,  and  removed  to  Spring- 
field, where  he  died  in  1840,  in  office.  Until  his  removal,  he  was  in 
the  practice  of  the  law ;  a  just  man,  and  an  honest  lawyer. 

Opposite  to  him,  resided  Elijah  Bates,  Esq.,  the  other  lawyer  of  the 
town.  Mr.  Bates  came  from  East  Granville,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College,  1794,  studied  law  with  Hon.  Joseph  Lyman,  then  of  West- 
field,  and  continued  at  the  bar  till  1825,  though  for  several  years,  his 
time  was  principally  devoted  to  agricultural  pursuits,  and  the  Eighth 
Massachusetts  Turnpike,  of  which  he  was  a  large  owner.  His  attention 
was  much  given  to  the  care  of  highways  ;  and  the  work  he  performed  on 
Pine  Hill,  in  reducing  the  grade,  has  so  changed  its  appearance,  that  it 
bears  no  resemblance  to  what  it  was  in  days  of  yore  !  He  died  in  1850, 
leaving  children,  Hon.  William  Gr.  Bates,  Mary  A.  Warner  of  Waterloo, 
N.  Y.,  and  Henry  W.  Bates  of  New  York  City. 

It  is  said  that  an  old  lady  once  complained  to  Parson  Knapp,  of  the 
unreasonableness  of  pronouncing  such  a  woe  upon  the  lawyers ;  "  for," 
said  she,  "there's  Esq.  Ingersoll  and  Esq.  Bates  are  really  too  good 
men  to  be  sent  to  hell !  " 

On  the  present  lot  of  Hon.  William  G.  Bates  resided  Israel  Moseley, 
a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  1766,  and  his  large  family.  One  of  his 
sons,  Wentworth,  studied  law  seven  years,  but  did  not  gain  access  to  the 
bar.  Israel  was  an  infirm  man,  eccentric  in  his  conduct  and  notions, 
from  his  youth  to  his  extreme  age.  He  was  accustomed  to  annoy  his 
neighbor,  Dr.  Atwater,  by  his  professed  desire  for  a  death-dose,  as  he 
said  he  wanted  to  see  what  there  was  in  the  next  world.  The  doctor 
at  last  prepared  for  him  a  portion  of  tartar-emetic,  and  labeled  it  "  A 
death -dose."  He  added  to  it  a  few  couplets,  of  which  I  only  remem- 
ber the  following : 

"  'Twill  save  you  from  sorrow,  your  neighbors  from  evil, 
And  send  you  on  packing  post-haste  to  the  devil." 
22 


170  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

The  patient  took  it ;  and  either  preceded  or  followed  it  by  a  large  bowl 
of  hasty-pudding  and  milk.  The  doctor  was  soon  sent  for.  After 
much  delay,  he  came,  and  with  an  assumed  solemnity,  assured  his 
patient  of  his  hope,  that  the  death-dose  would  accomplish  the  desired 
result !  The  old  man  gave  in.  "  0,  doctor,"  said  he,  "  I'm  dreadful 
afraid  it  will ! "  Medical  aid  soon  relieved  him ;  but  Dr.  Atwater 
never  had  another  call  from  him  for  a  death-dose. 

Dr.  William  Holland  for  a  time  lived  in  the  old  Holland  place ;  but 
he  at  last  sold  out  to  his  brother,  James  Holland,  and  removed  to  Can- 
andaigua,  where  he  died. 

Dr.  James  Holland  at  once  went  into  a  large  medical  practice.  He 
was  six  feet  three  and  one-half  inches  in  his  stockings,  and  of  an  erect 
and  muscular  form.  At  the  verge  of  extreme  old  age,  he  was  as 
straight  as  any  well-formed  youth,  and  performed  an  amount  of  bodily 
labor  which  was  astonishing.  He  had  a  large  and  apparently  healthy 
family  of  children ;  but  they  have  all  deceased,  except  one  daughter, 
Lydia,  and  Dr.  James  Holland,  now  of  this  town. 

There  were  several  other  persons,  who  more  recently  have  moved 
into  the  street,  in  relation  to  whom  we  propose  to  extend  our  notices, 
in  some  future  number. 

We  can  not  conclude,  without  referring  to  an  incident,  in  those  times, 
strongly  illustrating  the  power  of  the  imagination.  ' '  The  meeting- 
house" was  then  unwarmed.  There  was  no  fire-place  or  stove  in  it, 
and  no  provision  for  heat,  except  a  hot  brick,  or  soap-stone,  or  a  foot- 
stove.  There  were,  besides,  no  sidewalks,  as  we  have  now ;  and  the 
article  of  overshoes  was  confined  to  a  few  persons.  The  congregation 
used  to  wade  "  to  meeting,"  sit  with  wet  feet  during  a  long  sermon, 
and  then  hurry  home  to  those  restoring  influences,  which  so  effectually 
guarded  against  colds.  The  project  was  agitated,  of  warming  "  the 
meeting-house."  It  met  with  a  furious  opposition.  Dr.  Atwater  was 
one  of  the  innovators ;  yet  even  his  opinions  could  not  dispel  the  dread 
of  stove-heat.  At  last  two  stoves  were  put  in.  Some  said,  "  Oh  how 
comfortable!"  Said  others,  "It  makes  me  faint!"  On  the  second 
Sunday,  owing  to  a  neglect  to  provide  fuel,  no  fires  were  built.  But 
the  stoves  were  there !  One  lady,  of  Court  street,  who  was  annoyed 
on  the  first  Sunday,  was  still  more  annoyed  on  the  second.  She  at 
first  resorted  to  the  reviving  fan.  She  brandished  it  furiously,  but  its 
breezes  could  not  cool  that  odious  and  distressing  stove-heat.  She 
untied  her  bonnet-strings,  threw  off  her  shawl,  and  opened  her  cloak ; 
but  the  stove-heat  increased  upon  her.  Unable  longer  to  sustain  the 
fury  of  the  Nebuchadnezzarean  furnace,  she  rushed  down  the  broad 


APPENDIX.  171 

aisle,  and  sought  relief  from  the  internal  heat  in  an  atmosphere  of  20° 
below  zero.  It  may  readily  be  imagined,  that  good  old  Parson  Knapp 
was  seized  with  a  fit  of  coughing  about  that  time,  and  that  the  congre- 
tion  wondered,  how  two  cold  stoves  could  produce  such  an  inflammation 
in  only  one  person. 

No.  3. — Any  one  who  looks,  from  the  hotel,  down  the  beautiful  street 
called  Broad,  one-half  mile  in  length,  to  its  termination,  at  the  present 
residence  of  Mr.  Thayer,  and  beholds  the  towering  trees,  and  neatly 
painted  houses,  which  ornament  it,  will  hardly  believe  the  description, 
which  we  now  give  of  its  appearance,  early  in  the  present  century.  At 
the  time  of  which  we  speak,  to  which  our  first  memory  of  it  refers,  there 
was  no  house  on  the  street  between  the  Phelps  place,  on  the  corner  of 
Court  and  Broad  streets,  and  the  house  of  the  late  James  Bush.  The 
Green  District  school-house  stood  on  the  Woolworth  lot,  nearly  opposite 
the  Bush  house,  and  forms  a  portion  of  the  back  part  of  it.  Thence 
south,  to  the  end  of  the  street,  there  were  no  other  residences,  except  a 
small  building  near  the  present  Deacon  Stowe  house.  The  Thayer  house 
was  then  occupied  by  Mr.  Amos  Fowler,  the  brother  of  Mr.  Blackleach 
Fowler,  and  the  uncle  of  Charles  and  John  Fowler.  There  was,  also, 
on  the  corner  opposite  to  Amos  Fowler's,  the  large  house  of  Mr.  Shu- 
bael  Holcomb,  which  was  but  recently  removed.  A  small  cooper-shop 
stood  near  James  Bush's  house,  which  was  sometimes  used  as  a  tenement, 
when  coopering  was  dull.  All  the  other  buildings  have  been  erected, — the 
beautiful  trees  planted, — the  tastefully-laid-out  grounds  brought  to  their 
present  state  of  ornamentation, — within  the  memory  of  the  writer. 

The  school-house  was  a  small  structure,  about  fifteen  feet  square, 
with  two  high,  half,  or  square  windows  to  prevent  sight-seeing,  a  large 
fire-place  in  the  north  end,  and  a  huge  door  in  the  south;  a  row  of 
seats  surrounding  the  sides  of  the  building,  with  desks  in  front ;  and  a 
row  of  low  seats  in  front  of  the  desks,  for  the  little  boys  and  girls.  If 
the  building,  as  it  was  when  I  went  to  school  in  it,  were  to  be  exposed 
for  sale  now,  I  presume,  considering  the  high  price  of  lumber,  it  would 
sell  for  from  forty  to  sixty  dollars  !  But,  in  that  old  school-house,  in  a 
school,  kept  in  summer  by  a  "  marm,"  and  in  winter  by  some  young 
man,  who  had  been  for  a  term  or  two  at  Westfield  Academy,  were  the 
youth  of  both  sexes  taught !  Here  they  learned  to  repeat  Murray's 
Grammar,  from  beginning  to  end'!  Here  they  committed  all  the  rules 
in  Daboll's  Arithmetic,  and  ciphered  through  all  the  sums,  which  were 
given  under  the  different  rules !  Here  they  were  taught  to  read,  and 
to  "  speak  up  loud;"  and,  more  than  all,  to  spell.  Here  they  were 


172  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

brought  up  to  respect  age,  and  to  take  off  the  hat,  and  bow  to  the  pass- 
ers by,  in  going  to,  or  returning  from  school !  Not  in  a  spirit  of  pride, 
but  for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  men  and  women  can  fashion  them- 
selves to  greatness,  when  circumstances  are  untoward  and  adverse,  we  re- 
fer to  the  men  and  women  who  were  educated  in  that  school-house,  and 
others  of  a  like  kind.  Among  them  are  some  of  the  best  minds  in  the 
country ;  some  of  the  best-developed  business  men ;  and  some  of  the 
mothers,  who  stand  among  the  first  rank  of  educated  women.  What  a 
debt  of  gratitude  is  due  to  them  from  the  youth  of  this  present  genera- 
tion, for  the  educational  advantages  they  have  afforded  and  extended  ! 
What  an  obligation  is  imposed  upon  them,  to  improve  these  advantages  ! 

A  little  incident  will  illustrate  the  manner  of  school-discipline  for 
breaches  of  decorum.  One  hot  forenoon,  while  the  pupils  were  "  out  to 
play,"  in  the  shade  of  the  vast  elm,  which,  standing  in  the  middle  of 
the  road,  spread  its  giant  arms  from  the  school-house  to  Mr.  Bush's 
fence,  an  old  man,  with  a  bald  head,  was  passing  by  them,  hat  in  hand. 
A  question  arose,  whether,  if  one  of  us  should  say  to  him,  "  Go  up, 
old  bald-head!  "  the  bears  would  come  out  of  the  willow  swamp,  in  the 
rear  of  Mr.  Jessup's,  and  devour  the  children  ?  One  of  the  number, 
who  was  rather  heretical  on  the  subject,  shouted  forth  the  dreaded  words. 
Without  more  than  a  glance  towards  the  swamp,  all  but  the  young  her- 
etic ran  for  the  school-house,  and  shut  the  ponderous  door  against  the 
bears.  He  looked  closely  in  all  directions ;  and  seeing  none  of  "  the 
children-devouring  vermin,"  he  marched,  with  an  assumed  carelessness, 
into  the  school-room,  in  all  the  pride  of  his  bravery.  But  the  fame  of 
his  exploits  had  preceded  him.  The  rush  of  the  terror-stricken  chil- 
dren to  this  haven  of  safety,  the  sudden  closing  of  the  huge  door,  and 
the  anxiety  upon  the  faces  of  all  the  urchins,  aroused  the  curiosity  of 
the  teacher,  and  a  full  revelation  of  the  transaction  followed.  When, 
therefore,  the  young  heretic,  in  all  the  conscious  importance  of  his  vic- 
tory over  the  vulgar  prejudices  of  the  world,  marched  proudly  into  the 
school-room,  what  was  his  consternation,  and  his  mortification,  at  being 
seized  by  the  indignant  " marm"  hauled  over  her  disciplinary  knee, 
and  most  ignominiously  spanked!  The  recollection  of  this  transaction 
is,  to  this  hour,  vivid, — as  much  so,  as  if  "  magna  pars  fui." 

A  few  notices  of  the  people  in  the  street  follow  :  The  Bush  house  was 
then  occupied  by  Pliny  Moseley.  He  had  a  large  family  of  children, 
one  of  whom,  Sybil,  married  Rev.  H.  Bingham,  and  went  forth,  one  of 
the  first  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  She  spent  a  long  life  in 
her  labors  there,  at  a  time  when  missionary  duties  were  no  sinecures ; 
and  after  wearing  out  her  constitution,  she  at  last  rested  from  her  labors. 


APPENDIX.  173 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Moseley,  Mr.  James  Bush,  who  then  lived  in 
Main  street,  bought  the  place ;  and  he  resided  there  until  his  decease, 
in  1864.  He  left  a  large  family  of  children,  the  late  sheriff,  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Bush,  and  the  wife  of  Dr.  Isaac  Wool  worth  of  New  Haven,  be- 
ing among  the  number. 

Major  Archippus  Morgan  bought  the  Phelps  place,  and  built  the  cor- 
ner house.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Edward  Taylor  of  Montgomery, 
and  a  descendant  of  Parson  Taylor,  whose  tablet  is  in  the  First  Church. 
They  left  a  large  family  of  children  and  grand-children ;  Edward  M. 
Morgan,  Homer  Morgan,  and  Henry  T.  Morgan  who  are  brokers,  and 
they  and  George  P.  Fitch,  the  husband  of  one  of  the  daughters,  reside 
in  New  York  City. 

The  next  house  was  erected  by  Mr.  Jona.  Taylor,  then  a  merchant, 
and  a  partner  of  Col.  William  Hooker,  in  a  store  where  Colton's  drug 
store  now  stands.  When  he  removed  from  Westfield  to  Andover,  it 
was  sold,  and  subsequently  remodeled  by  Caleb  Alden,  Esq.,  now  of 
Springfield,  who  sold  it  to -Mr.  Abbe. 

The  next  house  was  erected  by  John  H.  Stowe,  the  son  of  Dea. 
Stowe,  who  still  resides  there. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  and  next  the  Academy  building,  now 
the  High  School,  is  the  house  which  was  formerly  the  law  office  of  Elijah 
Bates,  Esq.,  which  was  removed  there  by  the  late  Maj.  Ives,  and  raised 
up  and  fitted  as  a  dwelling.  Truly  that  building,  considering  its  changes 
in  use  and  location,  has  been  "  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner  "  on  the  earth. 

Next  south,  was  a  small  house  of  Rufus  Gillett's  which  forms  the 
back  part  of  the  Maj.  Ives  house.  Maj.  Ives  removed  into  this  town 
from  Otis  about  1820 ;  purchased  the  Gillett  lot  and  fixed  up  three  old 
houses,  which  stand  between  the  Academy  yard  and  the  Talmadge  lot. 
He  occupied  the  one  in  the  center,  his  son,  Maj.  Matthew,  Jr.,  the 
north  one,  and  the  other  was  rented. 

The  Talmadge  house  was  built  by  Edwin  Moseley,  the  son  of  Israel, 
of  "  death-dose  "  notoriety.  When  he  left  town,  it  was  purchased  by 
the  late  Elisha  G.  Talmadge,  and  is  now  occupied  by  his  widow.  He 
left  a  family  of  children,  who  are  all  "  well-to-do  "  in  the  world,  in 
their  various  places  of  residence.  One  of  his  grand-daughters  re- 
cently married  Mr.  Todd,  a  lawyer  in  Washington  City. 


No.  4. — On  the  south  side  of  Little  River,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by 
Mr.  Northam,  in  a  small  farm-house,  below  the  hill,  resided  Deacon  Eben- 
ezer  Fowler.  He  had  a  family  of  children,  who  have  all  emigrated  for 


174  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

foreign  parts,  or  have  deceased.  Deacon  Fowler  was  a  just  man,  always 
ready  to  pay,  to  the  last  cent,  all  his  debts,  and  careful  to  collect  all 
his  dues.  He  was  a  very  religious  man,  punctual  in  his  attendance  at 
meetings  on  Sundays  and  other  days ;  and  though  snow,  or  rain,  or 
mud,  covered  the  streets,  he  was  sure  to  be  seen,  in  his  conscientious 
travel,  for  the  mile  and  a  half  from  his  residence  to  the  place  of  as- 
sembling. It  so  happened,  that  he  had  a  small  debt  against  Roswell 
Holcomb,  who  lived  in  the  old  Holcomb  tavern,  at  "  The  Elms,"  on 
Pine  Hill.  He  had  agreed  with  him,  to  do  his  whitewashing  on  a 
certain  future  day ;  and  he  was  to  begin-  early.  On  the  day  agreed 
upon,  as  he  supposed,  be  was  incensed  at  the  non-appearance  of  Hol- 
comb, with  his  whitewashing  equipments;  and  he  started  and  traveled, 
with  rapid  strides,  towards  the  home  of  his  debtor,  breathing  out  his 
intended  utterances  of  indignant  reproach. 

Holcomb,  the  unconscious  victim  of  these  intended  rebukes,  was 
quietly  smoking  his  pipe,  on  the  front  porch,  in  his  usual  serenity.  He 
was  a  decided  character.  He  was  a  large  man,  of  a  dark  complexion, 
with  black,  curly  hair ;  and  he  had  a  "  big  manly  voice,"  so  loud, 
that,  as  it  was  said,  his  "  loud  laugh  "  could  be  heard  from  his  house 
to  the  "  Green,"  a  distance  of  half  a  mile.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
humor, — a  sort  of  practical  wag, — a  "  getter-up  "  of  ludicrous  stories, 
which  he  used  to  tell,  to  the  great  amusement  of  a  bar-room  auditory. 
We  need  hardly  add,  that  he  was  poor  ;  and  that  he  was  only  anxious 
for  the  means  of  present  enjoyment,  at  the  smallest  exertion  of  his 
bodily  powers,  in  the  way  of  labor.  Upon  the  morning  in  question, — 
a  quiet  Sabbath  morn, — he  was  surprised  at  the  rapid  strides  of  Deacon 
Fowler,  in  his  every-day  clothes,  in  the  direction  of  his  residence ;  and 
he  was  still  more  surprised  at  the  salutation  of  the  Deacon.  The  latter 
at  once  upbraided  Holcomb  with  the  breach  of  his  agreement  to  work 
for  him  that  day,  in  whitewashing  his  domicile.  The  quick  wit  of  the 
latter  at  once  took  in  the  mistake  of  the  Deacon,  as  to  the  day  of  the 
week ;  and  he,  of  course,  determined  to  make  music  out  of  it  He  at 
first  denied  the  agreement ;  but,  upon  the  earnest  asseveration  of  the 
fact,  he  fell  back  upon  the  denial  of  it,  on  that  particular  day.  The 
Deacon  became  more  excited ;  and,  at  last,  charged  Holcomb  with  be- 
ing a  promise-breaker,  a  man  who  would  not  pay  his  debts,  and  who  did 
not  regard  his  promise,  or  his  word. 

Holcomb,  at  last,  with  an  assumed  solemnity,  admitted  his  poverty, 
confessed  that  his  life  had  not  always  been  the  most  exemplary ;  "  but," 
said  he,  "  poor  as  I  am,  and  bad  as  I  am,  I  am  too  much  of  a  good 
citizen  to  do  your  whitewashing  on  this  day  ;  and  you,  Deacon  Fowler,  an 


APPENDIX.  175 

officer  of  the  church,  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  ask  me.  Think  not," 
said  he,  "that,  because  you  live  in  a  retired  place,  beneath  the  hill, 
where  man  cannot  see  us,  I  am  wicked  enough  to  violate  this  day  !  " 
The  Deacon  did  not  comprehend  this  "invasion  of  Africa;"  so  he 
asked  Holcomb  what  he  meant.  "  You  know,  Deacon  Fowler,  well 
enough,  what  I  mean  !  You  think  that,  because  I  am  poor,  and  have 
to  work  for  my  living,  the  whole  week,  I  am  wicked  enough  to  steal 
away  down  to  your  house,  below  the  hill,  and  spend  the  Sabbath-day  in 
whitewashing!"  "The  Sabbath-day!"  exclaimed  the  Deacon  in  un- 
affected astonishment;  "the  Sabbath-day!"  "Oh,  Deacon  Fowler, 
don't  be  a  hypocrite,  too  !  You  well  know  what  day  it  is ! "  And, 
warming  with  his  pretended  virtuous  indignation,  he  shouted  out,  in 
his  stentorian  voice,  "  You  want  to  insult  the  poverty,  and  corrupt  the 
principles,  of  a  poor  man !  You — you — you  " — but  the  Deacon  was 
no  longer  a  listener,  though  he  could  hear  the  angry  philippics,  ringing 
out,  like  a  brazen  trumpet,  till,  at  last,  the  bubble  of  pretended  virtu- 
ous indignation  burst,  and  ,a  real,  hilarious,  Holcomb-laugh  awoke  the 
silent,  Sabbath  echoes  of  Pine  Hill. 

Only  imagine  the  retreat  of  Deacon  Fowler  from  the  pious  denuncia- 
tions of  Roswell  Holcomb  !  Think  of  the  flight  of  Lot  from  the  walls 
of  Sodom,  and  his  "  two-forty  gait,"  from  the  brimstone,  fire  and 
tempest !  With  what  a  sorrowful  heart  he  entered  that  house,  which 
had  beheld  the  daily  devotions  of  his  whole  spotless  life,  and  whose 
walls  now  looked  darkly  and  gloomily  upon  his  first  great  sin  !  How 
quickly  was  his  person  washed,  his  Sunday  attire  donned,  and  with 
what  rapid,  and  yet  penitential  steps  he  sought  the  abode  of  his  beloved 
pastor  !  There  he  revealed  the  heinousness  of  his  sin — his  forgetful- 
ness  of  God  and  of  His  holy  day.  It  was  in  vain,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Knapp  attempted  to  qualify,  or  extenuate,  or  excuse,  his  transgression. 
In  vain  he  urged,  that  it  was  a  mere  mistake — a  mere  forgetfulness. 
"That,"  said  the  Deacon,  "is  the  very  thing!  The  commandment 
says  remember !  I  have  not  remembered  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it 
holy !  And,  what  is  worse,  I  have  done  this  sin  in  the  presence  of 
this  great  sinner,  who  has  reproved  me  with  my  transgression,  and 
whose  laugh  of  exultation  was  heard  above  the  roar  of  the  water  at 
Dewey's  mill-dam."  Nothing  would  satisfy  him,  but  a  full  confession, 
in  the  face  of  the  whole  congregation ;  and,  after  the  preliminary  exer- 
cises of  the  morning  service,  the  Deacon  rose,  in  a  seat  in  the  broad 
aisle,  bent  his  head  reverentially  forward,  crossed  his  hands  meekly  on 
his  breast,  while  the  pastor  announced,  that  an  aged  and  venerable 
brother,  and  an  officer  of  the  church,  forgot  that  this  day  was  the  Lord's 


176  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

day ;  and  having  by  mistake  commenced  his  secular  labors,  he  now  prayed, 
that  hereafter  he  might  ever  remember  the  day,  which  the  Lord  had 
made,  and  that  he  might  be  forgiven  for  his  involuntary  transgression. 
It  may  readily  be  imagined,  that  this  incident  was  a  "  thing  of  joy  " 
to  Holcomb.  It  gave  him  a  new  story;  and  the  inquiry,  "  How  was  it, 
Holcomb,  about  your  whitewashing  for  Deacon  Fowler?"  especially 
when  accompanied  with  a  "  glass  of  sling,"  as  "  drinks  "  were  then 
called,  would  call  forth  a  repetition  of  the  facts,  with  such  supplemental 
circumstances  as  an  imagination,  by  no  means  barren,  would  suggest. 
We  may  remark,  however,  that  the  narration  of  the  interview  was  not 
substantially  exaggerated.  The  good  parson  had  a  quiet  humor  of  his 
own ;  and,  while  he  venerated  the  purity  of  character,  he  could  not 
but  enjoy,  and  cause  others  to  enjoy,  the  peculiar  conscientiousness  of 
one  of  his  deacons.  

No.  5. — In  reviewing  the  recollections  of  the  early  situation  of  the 
town,  and  contemplating  its  growth,  up  to  the  period  of  which  we  write, 
we  feel  a  strong  impulse  to  confer  with  our  early  compeers,  to  correct 
our  doubtful  impressions,  or  to  assure  ourselves  of  their  reality.  But, 
alas !  to  whom  shall  we  apply  ?  More  than  once  has  the  beautiful  lan- 
guage of  the  poet,  thrilled  upon  our  memory,  as  we  have  directed  our 
thoughts  to  the  days  of  the  past, — "  I  came  to  the  place  of  my  birth, 
and  said — the  friends  of  my  youth,  where  are  they?  and  echo  answered 
— where  are  they  ?  " 

As  I  have  passed  down  the  Main  street  of  the  town,  from  the  north- 
east corner  of  "  the  Green,"  in  the  direction  of  Springfield,  and  have 
looked  upon  the  large  manufactories,  the  closely  compacted  dwellings, 
the  beautiful  buildings,  and  the  large  population  of  that  busy  thorough- 
fare, I  can  hardly  realize,  that,  in  the  space  of  my  recollection,  going 
back  to  a  period  of  ten  or  eleven  years  only,  within  the  present  cen- 
tury, only  two  male  residents  are  now  alive,  who  then  were  on  the 
stage  of  being,  and  that  nearly  all  the  beautiful  homes  of  our  enter- 
prising people  have  been  recent  erections.  To  begin  at  "  the  Green." 
Where  the  Ives  block  now  stands,  was  a  store,  occupied  by  Farnum  & 
Hastings ;  Major  Ives  removed  it,  and  it  now  constitutes  the  rear  part  of 
the  third  building  south  of  the  Academy.  Adjacent  to  the  store,  was 
the  jeweler's  shop  of  the  late  Jacob  Morse,  whose  clocks,  with  his  name 
upon  the  face,  are  still  in  being,  and  one  of  which  still  marks  the  pro- 
gress of  time,  and  strikes  the  passing  hours,  where  the  writer  now 
dwells,  as  it  has  done  since  his  birth  to  the  present  hour.  He  was  the 
father  of  the  late  James  Morse,  of  whom  we  may  have  something  to 


APPENDIX.  177 

say,  and  the  grandfather  of  James  H.  Morse,  our  present  town  treasurer. 
His  home  was  just  east  of  his  shop,  and  where  the  store  now  stands,  it 
having  been  removed  into  the  church  avenue.     The  next  house  was 
the  Parks'  house,  on  the  ground  where  the  piano-leg  factory  is  situated, 
belonging  to  Messrs    Stimpson  &  Co.,  and  was  occupied  by  Cornet 
Parks,  a  British  officer  of  the  Revolution,  the  father  of  Mrs.  James 
Bush,  and  Miss  Mary  Parks,  deceased.     The  Stephen  Douglass  house 
stood  where  the  house  owned  by  the  "  Taylor  boys,"  now  stands,  with 
a  small  shoe-maker's  shop  adjoining.     Douglass  had  a  family  of  chil- 
dren who  removed  from  the  town ;  one  son  of  his  lives  in  the  east  part 
of  Hampshire  County,  and  is  a  useful  and  respected  citizen.     Mr. 
Douglass  was  an  odd  man,  somewhat  facetious  in  his  manners  and  con- 
versation ;  and,  though  I  was  very  young  when  he  departed,  I  have  as- 
sociated him  with  Souter  Johnny,  in  Tarn  O'Shanter.     He  was  not  so 
fat,  as  Souter  Johnny  is  represented  in  the  group,  but  the  twinkle  of 
the  eye,  reminded  one  of  the  humorous  representation  of  the  shoe- 
maker, in  the  immortal  work  of  THOM.     There  was  a  nickname  at- 
tached to  him,  by  his  neighbors,  resulting  from  a  word  of  his  frequent 
use,  and  he  was  sometimes  called  Smoliker  Douglass,  or  the  Smoliker. 
The  next  house  was  the  Dr.  Israel  Ashley  house,  where  Mr.  Thomas 
Ashley  now  lives.     He  was  quite  a  distinguished  physician,  and  trav- 
eled over  an  extensive  territory,  the  only  other  physician  being  Dr. 
Sumner,  and  their  practice  called  them  to  the  adjacent  towns.     Both 
Dr.  Ashley  and  his  wife  died  in  1814,  and  within  a  few  days  of  each 
other,  leaving  children — Mary,  the  wife  of  Elijah  Bates,  Esq. ;  Mar- 
gar^;,  wife  of  Mr.  Lyman  Lewis ;  Harriet,  who  afterwards  became  the 
second  wife  of  Jesse  Farnum,  Esq.;  and  Thomas,  who  at  the  age  of 
eighty-one  still  survives.    Next,  was  the  house  of  Joseph  Lyman,  Esq., 
now  owned  by  Mr.  James  Noble,  who  removed  to  Northampton,  became 
Judge  of  Probate,  and  Sheriff  of  Hampshire,  and  died  at  a  good  old  age. 
His  wife  was  a  sister  of  Hon.  James  Fowler,  and  his  son,  Samuel  Fowler 
Lyman,  is  now  Judge  of  Probate  in  that  county.    Adjacent  to  Mr.  Ly- 
man's,  was  the  Ballantine  house,  then  occupied  by  Winthrop  Ballantine, 
and  Rev.  John  Ballantine,  or  as  he  was  called,  "Master  John."     They 
were  the  sons  of  Parson  Ballantine,  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  church  in 
Westfield,  one  of  whose  daughters  married  Gen.  John  Ashley  of  Sheffield, 
the  father  of  the  late  Maj.  William  Ashley,  who  was  the  father  of  Mrs. 
Jane  P.  Bates.     "  Master  John  "  was  a  marked  character.     He  was  a 
man  of  much  learning,  of  great  reading  and  study,  and  in  some  of  his 
characteristics  he  resembled  the  Rev.  Abel  Sampson,  whose  character 
has  been  so  well  described  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  Guy  Mannering. 
23 


178  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

He  was  small  and  erect  in  his  figure,  with  long  iron-gray  hair,  combed 
back;  a  marked  face,  a  marked  manner  of  expression,  accompanied  by 
a  slight  brogue ;  his  voice  harsh  and  unmusical ;  and  when  he  sang,  which 
he  commonly  did  "  in  meeting,"  he  followed  the  choir  a  note  or  two  be- 
hind, so  that  his  singing  produced  a  marked  sensation,  especially  among 
the  young  worshipers,  who  seemed  to  take  much  delight  in  his  remark- 
able discords.  Like  Mr.  Sampson,  he  was  never  married  ;  his  time  be- 
ing devoted  entirely  to  study,  and  in  taking  charge  of  the  town  li- 
brary, which  was  kept  in  his  chamber.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  ;  but 
he  never  received  "a  call,"  except  at  times  to  supply  the  pulpit  when 
Parson  Knapp  was  absent.  It  is  narrated  of  him,  that  on  one  of  these 
occasions,  there  had  been  for  a  long  time  no  rain,  and  the  earth  was,.dry 
and  parched.  "  Master  John  "  prayed  earnestly  for  the  dews  upon  the 
mown  grass,  and  showers  that  water  the  earth ;  and  after  several  weekly 
petitions,  his  prayers  were  answered.  The  windows  of  heaven  were 
opened,  and  down  came  the  torrents,  that  made  up  the  Jefferson  flood. 
The  river  rose  to  an  unprecedented  hight.  The  meadows  were  over- 
flowed, and  still  the  waters  increased  so  as  really  to  alarm  the  people. 
Sunday  came,  and  with  it,  "  Master  John,"  in  the  sacred  desk,  indicat- 
ing by  his  manner  that  something  was  to  be  done,  and  that  quickly. 
He  modestly  referred  to  the  earnest  petitions  he  had  offered  up  for  the 
"cisterns  of  the  sky,"  and  the  discharge  of  their  contents  upon  "  the 
thirsty  ridges  of  the  field,"  and  how  abundantly  that  petition  had  been 
answered ;  and  in  view  of  the  fact,  that  apparently  a  deluge  was  im- 
pending, he  broke  out  into  the  following  eloquent  supplication :  "  Lord, 
Lord,  stay  thy  hand  !  0,  stay  thy  hand  !  Enough  !  enough  !  firt 
thou  a  going  to  drown  us  out?"  It  is  said  that  the  rain  ceased,  the 
waters  subsided,  and  the  wood  chucks,  and  other  dwellers  in  the  holes 
of  the  earth,  who  had  been  drowned  out,  as  "  Master  John  "  feared  the 
people  would  have  been,  returned  to  their  burrows,  or  dug  new  holes 
above  high  water  mark.  As  I  intend  to  finish  his  portraiture  at  one  sit- 
ting, I  add  another  anecdote  which  I  listened  to,  when  a  boy,  much  of 
the  interest  of  which  will  be  lost  to  those  who  never  heard  the  formal, 
pompous  language  of  "Master  John,"  affected  as  it  was  by  a  slight 
paralytical  shake.  He  had  a  very  small  dog,  who  was  very  fond  of 
amusing  himself,  by  running  after  sheep.  As  he  wished  to  correct  this 
propensity  in  the  dog,  he  applied  to  his  neighbor,  Stephen  Douglass, 
for  the  proper  directions.  Douglass  told  him  there  was  no  difficulty, 
tand  if  he  would  bring  up  the  dog  to  his  shop,  he  would  cure  him.  The 
dog  was  brought.  But  we  can  not  do  it  justice.  Take  the  stand, 
"Master  John,"  and  tell  your  own  story.  "  I  went  to  my  neighbor, 


APPENDIX.  179 

the  smolaker,  him  who  mendeth  the  shoes,  and  inquired  of  him,  if  Pank 
could  be  cured  of  his  vicious  propensity  in  following  after  the  sheep  ? 
He  answered  that  there  was  no  difficulty,  and  that  if  I  would  bring 
Pank  unto  him,  he  would  be  instrumental  in  his  cure.  Accordingly, 
I  brought  Pank  to  the  shop  of  the  smolaker.  He  at  once  connected 
a  short  rope  to  the  collar  of  the  dog ;  and  having  caught  a  huge  ram  of 
his  flock,  he  affixed  the  rope  to  the  horns  of  the  ram.  He  then  ceased 
to  restrain  the  ram,  and  at  the  same  time  shook  his  leathern  apron ;  this 
affrighted  the  ram,  who  ran  across  the  field  with  amazing  velocity,  Pank 
following  him  unwillingly,  and  with  unequal  steps.  When  they  ap- 
proached the  bounds  of  the  field,  the  ram  leaped  the  fence ;  and  as  he 
descended  on  the  other  side,  he  brought  poor  Pank's  head  against  the 
rail,  and  he  expired  on  the  spot." 

The  Ballantine  house  was  a  large  mansion,  in  front  of  which,  stood 
two  large  elm  trees ;  one  of  them  was  the  largest  tree  in  the  town,  nor 
do  I  recollect  ever  to  have  seen  its  equal.     It  was  cut  down,  in  barbar- 
ous taste,  because,  as  it  was  said,  the  roots  and  shade  injured  the  neigh- 
boring gardens.     The  next  house  was  the  Squire  Fowler  house;   the 
building  is  now  standing,  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Cross  streets. 
Hon.  Samuel  Fowler  resided  there,  before  his  removal  to  "  the  Green." 
Next  east,  was  the  Capt.  Mather  house,  still  standing.     Capt.  Mather 
married  the  daughter  of  Edward  Taylor,  Esq.,  of  Montgomery,  sister 
of  Mrs.  Archippus  Morgan.      They  had  a  large  family  of  children. 
Sophia,  married  Dr.  Fitch  of  South  Carolina,  who  left  one  daughter. 
Cynthia  is  the  wife  of  John  B.  Eldredge,  Esq.,  of  Hartford,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Connecticut  Fire  Insurance  Company.     Rowland  Mather 
is  a  wealthy  merchant  in  Hartford,  and  has  a  family  of  children. 
Samuel  Mather  was  bred  a  farmer,  and  worked  hard  with  his  father  on 
the  "paternal  acres;"  but  on  the  death  of  his  family,  being  worn  down 
with  his  severe  labor,  he  took  up  his  abode  with  his  sister,  Mrs.  El- 
dredge,  where  he  resided  until  his  death.     He  conceived  the  idea  of 
founding  an  Atheneum,  where,  for  a  small  sum,  the  inhabitants,  and 
particularly  the  youth  of  the  town,  might  have  access  to  books,  and 
have  a  place  in  which  to  spend  their  evenings,  in  the  joy  of  social  con- 
verse, and  the  improvement  of  their   minds,  without   being  forced, 
as  it  were,  into  the  saloons  either  of  drink,  or  gaming,  or  both,  or  into 
other  situations  of  temptation  to  vice  and  crime.     With  this  view,  after 
a  full  consideration  and  consultation,  he  paid,  in  government  bonds,  the 
sum  of  $10,000,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  for  the  warming,  and 
lighting  the  Atheneum  building,  paying  the  salary  of  a  librarian,  and 
other  incidental  expenses,  it  being  understood,  that  the  building  was  to 


180  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

be  presented  by  Mr.  Harrison,  and  the  books  purchased  by  dona- 
tions of  citizens  of  the  town.  As  we  all  know,  the  building  has  been 
generously  given,  and  several  liberal  donations  have  been  made ;  but, 
we  are  ashamed  to  say,  that  very  many  of  our  citizens,  those  too  of 
wealth,  and  who  have  families,  who  need  the  necessary  culture,  are  not 
yet  among  the  contributors.  It  was  a  glorious  act  of  Mr.  Mather,  and 
it  will  hand  down  his  name  in  the  rolls  of  gratitude.  Who  can  esti- 
mate the  result?  Who  can  foresee  how  much  of  an  impulse  he  will 
have  given  to  moral,  intellectual  and  religious  culture,  and  how  many 
persons  may  be  saved,  in  the  future,  from  degradation  and  ruin. 

But  to  retrurn  from  this  pleasing  digression.  Next  east  of  Capt. 
Mather's  was  the  house  of  Charles  King,  standing  on  the  Tryon  lot ;  and 
still  further  east,  and  the  last  house  on  the  east  side  of  Main  Street,  was 
the  Landlord  Fowler  tavern.  It  is  said  that  General  Burgoyne,  when 
he  passed  through  this  town  as  a  prisoner  from  the  field  of  Saratoga, 
spent  the  night  at  this  tavern,  and  with  true  military  politeness,  kissed 
the  wife  of  the  landlord,  on  the  morning  of  his  departure.  The  house 
is  still  standing,  and  in  good  repair,  though  it  has  not  been  used  as  a 
tavern,  within  my  memory.  I  propose  to  reserve  the  other  side  of  Main 
Street  for  another  number. 

No.  6. — Before  we  cross  over  to  the  north  side  of  Main  street,  we 
insert  a  recollection  of -a  story  of  the  Rev.  John  Ballantine,  the  father  of 
"Master  John."  We  do  not  vouch  for  its  truth,  and  therefore,  some 
parts  of  it  may  invade  the  realm  of  fable.  But,  "I  tell  the  tale  as  it 
was  told  to  me." 

After  the  parson  was  settled,  like  other  clergymen,  he  looked  about 
him  for  an  helpmeet;  and  as  the  outgoings  and  incomings  of  a  par- 
son, in  the  matrimonial  paths,  are  often  the  subject  of  particular  regard, 
especially  to  those  who  have  marriageable  daughters, — and  we  suspect, 
that  the  subject  was  of  still  more  interest,  at  a  time  when  the  office  of 
pastor  was,  more  than  now,  a  higher  office  than  it  is  at  present,  even 
as  a  militia  captain  was  as  great  a  man  then,  as  a  major  general  now, — 
it  became  a  question  of  great  interest  to  the  people,  who  was  to  be  in- 
stalled, as  the  female  colleague  of  the  parson.  Rumor  soon  reported, 
that  he  had  looked  over  the  heads  of  the  spinsters  of  his  town,  and  cast 
his  affections  upon  a  kinswoman  of  Governor  Winthrop  of  Boston.  She 
was  highly  spoken  of,  as  a  lady  of  talent  and  virtue;  but  she  had  been 
bred  up  in  a  style  of  refinement  and  luxury,  and,  upon  great  occasions, 
was  accustomed  to  array  herself  in  a  silk  gown!  The  deacons  felt  con- 
strained, by  the  impelling  force  of  public  sentiment,  to  remonstrate  with 


APPENDIX.  181 

their  pastor,  and  admonish  him  of  the  danger  of  importing  such  an  ex- 
ample of  extravagance  into  such  a  staid,  quiet  and  rural  population  as 
Westfield.  He  listened  to  them  attentively,  and  considered  their  argu- 
ment, and  finally  proceeded  to  do,  as  men  usually  do,  when  infatuated 
with  a  lady  of  a  kindred  spirit, — he  married  her. 

A  short  time  after  she  had  assumed  the  discharge  of  her  duties,  he 
invited  his  deacons  to  a  sort  of  pastoral  dinner.  It  was  gotten  up  in  a 
style,  which  was  unusual  to  the  men  of  this  primitive  town.  She  pre- 
sided at  the  table  with  grace  and  dignity ;  and  by  her  polite  attention  to 
the  supply  of  the  wants  of  her  guests,  her  apt  conversation,  and  her 
kindly,  though  stately  manner,  she  almost  overcome  their  preconceived 
prejudices.  After  the  repast  was  over,  and  she  had  retired,  leaving 
the  gentlemen  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  tobacco,  and  those  lubricating 
admixtures,  in  which  it  is  said,  the  worthies  of  that  period  took  great 
delight,  Parson  Ballantine  reminded  them  that  they  had  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  his  wife,  in  the  sphere  of  her  new  duties ;  and  he 
asked  them,  successively,  beginning  at  the  eldest,  how  they  were  pleased 
with  Mrs.  Ballantine  ?  He  replied  that  he  liked  her  well ;  she  was  a 
handsome  and  accomplished  lady.  She  presided  at  the  table  with  the 
dignity  of  a  queen,  and  the  courtesy  of  an  angel.  Her  meat  was  done 
to  a  turn,  and  her  puddings  and  pies  had  a  melting  richness  about  them, 
which  had  never  been  equalled.  "But,  reverend  sir,  there  is  that  silk 
gown  !  I  observed  how  it  shone,  and  rustled.  It  was  a  sort  of  snare 
to  my  own  eyes ;  I  could  hardly  help  being  tempted  to  imagine  how  my 
own  wife  and  daughter  would  look  in  one  of  those  robes  of  satin ;  and 
if  such  is  the  case  with  me,  how  will  it  be  with  those  who  have  not  the 
same  restraining  grace?  "  Thus  this  deacon  struck  the  key-note,  and  all 
the  others  vibrated  in  unison.  All  admired  her;  all  wondered  at  her 
accomplishments;  but  all  of  them  were  distressed  at  that  silk  gown; 
and  they  lamented,  that  such  a  highly  educated,  virtuous,  affable,  and 
intelligent  woman,  should  have  her  affections  so  strongly  placed  upon 
the  vanities  of  this  world. 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  expressions  of  opinion,  the  good  pastor 
pondered  for  a  few  moments  in  deep  thought,  and  at  last  observed  to 
them : — "I  see,  my  dear  brethren,  that  no  one  of  you  seems  exactly  to 
be  satisfied  with  Mrs.  Ballantine ;  and  as  you  do  not  feel  inclined  to 
take  her  yourselves,  I  will  thank  you  to  let  her  alone,  and  I  will  keep 
her  myself." 

No.  7. — The  first  house  upon  the  north  side  of  Main  street,  at  the 
corner  of  "  the  Green,"  at  the  time  of  my  first  recollection,  was  the  Joel 


182  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Farnam  house.  It  is  the  same  building,  which  now  stands  north  of 
the  brick  building  on  the  corner,  from  whence  it  was  removed  for  the 
erection  of  the  latter.  The  house  next  north  of  it,  then  cornered  upon 
it,  fronting  on  Elm  street,  and  was  used  as  a  rent.  Mr.  Farnam  was  a 
partner  of  Benjamin  Hastings,  and  their  store  was,  what  is  now,  the 
rear  portion  of  one  of  the  Major  Ives'  houses,  and  stood  on  the  site  of 
the  Ives-corner  brick  building.  They  failed  in  business,  and  removed, 
Farnam  to  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  Hastings  to  Hartford,  Conn.  They 
had  numerous  children,  and  though  unfortunate  in  business,  there  was 
no  stain  upon  the  character  of  either  of  them.  Henry  Hastings,  now 
of  this  town,  was  one  of  the  sons  of  Benjamin,  and  has  returned  hither 
in  poor  health,  to  spend  his  life  here. 

Where  the  Second  Congregational  Church  now  stands,  stood  the 
"  Tavern,"  as  such  places  were  then  called,  of  Gad  Palmer.  But  the 
word  "  Tavern  "  is  now  obsolete.  The  word  was  first  supplanted  by 
"Hotel"  and  at  last  "  House,"  with  a  prefix,  has  become  the  style.  If 
a  guest  were  to  speak  to  the  landlord,  (or  we  suppose  we  must  sink  the 
"landlord,"  too,  and  call  him  the  "  proprietor,")  about  his  Tavern,  he 
would  feel  indignant,  and  perhaps  order  him  to  leave  his  "  House." 
He  would  feel  somewhat  like  the  Londoner,  upon  an  occasion,  when,  at 
the  request  of  an  American,  he  pointed  out  to  him  the  King.  The 
American  was  surprised  at  the  plainness  of  his  appearance,  and  ex- 
claimed, " Is  that  stupid-loooking  chap  the  king?  "  "  Gracious  heaven ! " 
cried  out  the  Londoner,  "  do  you  call  his  most  gracious  Christian 
majesty  a  chap  ?  " 

But  we  return  to  Mr.  Palmer's  tavern,  for  we  love  to  linger  around 
"that  once  familiar  word,"  and  we  would  gladly  shut  up  house,  bid 
adieu  to  house-keeping,  for  a  time,  at  least,  and  linger  about  such  a 
tavern  as  he  and  his  wife  kept.  We  sigh  for  the  past,  when  we  think 
of  it.  So  clean,  so  neat,  the  table  and  bed  linen  so  white,  the  parlors 
so  pleasant,  the  table  so  'spread  with  a  very  few  dishes,  shining  like 
polished  ivory,  and  the  food  upon  them  so  perfectly  cooked  and  flavored, 
such  an  air  of  quiet  and  repose,  all  about  the  premises,  no  noise,  no 
tumult,  no  carousing,  no  swearing, — it  realized,  in  its  full  perfection, 
the  idea  of  "  a  traveler's  home!"  "Carousing  and  swearing,"  did 
I  say  ?  Ben  Wade  could  not  swear  there !  Saulsbury  could  not 
get  drunk  there !  Neither  of  them  could  meet  the  calm,  mild  eye  of 
Uncle  Gad ;  and  if  they  were  to  call  for  a  second  glass,  he  would  gently 
remind  them,  that  they  had  had  enough.  The  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  in  their  journeys  to  Leuox,  were  accustomed  to  ride  over  on 
Saturdays,  and  spend  a  quiet  Sunday  at  Palmer's  tavern,  and  resume 


APPENDIX.  183 

their  journeys  on  Monday ;  and  the  old  Solicitor-General  Davis,  who 
was  no  mean  judge  of  "  the  creature  comforts,"  was  glad  to  bear  them 
company.  I  well  remember  the  enthusiasm  with  which  this  famous  epi- 
cure used  to  speak  of  the  joys  of  Palmer's  tavern,  and  how  he  would 
rhapsodize  over  her  coffee. 

Next,  and  near  to  it,  was  the  house  of  Mr.  Hastings,  subsequently 
owned  and  occupied  by  the  late  Elijah  Arnold ;  and  next  to  that  was 
the  house  of  Major  Douglas,  now  occupied  by  Charles  C.  Fowler.  A 
large  willow  tree  stood  in  front  of  the  house,  which  spread  its  giant 
branches  over  the  roof  and  the  road.  The  Major  had  a  large  family 
of  children.  Capt.  Charles  Douglas,  and  Lucy,  the  first  wife  of  Hon. 
James  Fowler,  died  in  their  native  town  ;  the  other  children  removed 
from  home ;  some  of  them  to  the  vicinity  of  Trenton,  N.  Y. ;  but  there 
are  living  a  large  number  of  their  children,  of  talent  and  character, 
who  stand  high  in  the  estimation  of  the  world. 

Where  the  house  of  Deacon  Chadwick  now  stands,  was  an  old  house 
of  Enoch  Clark.  He  died  there.  His  eldest  son,  Enoch,  removed  to 
Ohio,  his  daughter,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Swan,  formerly  of  the  Woronoko 
House,  to  Cincinnati,  0.,  and  Kev.  Perkins  K.  Clark  is  the  pastor  of 
the  church  at  Mittineaque.  There  was  an  old  potash-building,  standing 
where  the  cottage,  recently  owned  by  the  late  William  Stimpson  now 
stands,  which  was  pulled  down.  In  1834,  Mechanic  street  was  opened, 
by  Jonathan  Taylor,  A.  Post  and  William  G.  Bates,  assignees  of  Rob- 
ert Whitney.  There  was  considerable  debate  about  the  propriety  of 
opening  it.  The  lot  owned  by  Mr.  Whitney  was  appraised  at  $1,000 ; 
and  the  question  was,  whether  the  building  lots  would  sell  for  that  sum. 
One  of  those  gentlemen  agreed  to  make  up  any  deficit ;  and  the  heirs 
of  Mr.  Clark  consenting  to  give  a  portion  of  the  land,  the  street  was 
opened.  In  this  way  a  large  number  of  building-lots  were  created. 
An  auction  was  had ;  all  the  lots  were  sold ;  one  of  the  assignees  pur- 
chased several  of  them.  The  sale  amounted  to  a  considerable  excess 
of  the  appraisal,  and  for  the  lots  which  he  purchased,  he  received  an 
enhanced  price.  Every  one,  who  now  passes  through  that  beautiful  and 
densely  populated  street,  will  wonder  at  the  doubt  which  was  then  ex- 
pressed, about  the  growth  of  Westfield. 

The  next  house  is  that  in  which  the  late  Lyman  Lewis  lived  and 
died ;  and  next  to  that,  were  the  house  and  cabinet-maker's  shop  of 
Erastus  Grant,  who  recently  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety 
years.  He  was  a  decided,  energetic,  passionate  man,  prompt  in  all  his 
business,  with  an  iron  will,  and  a  determination  which  never  paused  in 
its  purposes.  He  kept  a  largo  number  of  workmen  and  apprentices  in 


184  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

the  shop,  which  now  stands,  as  a  dwelling,  adjacent  to  the  old  mansion, 
now  undergoing  repairs  at  the  hand  of  Mr.  Frederick  Bush,  the  late 
sheriff.  His  passions,  now  and  then,  led  him  into  difficulties,  but  which 
were  in  themselves  laughable.  One  day  it  was  announced  in  the  shop, 
that  his  hog  was  in  Mrs.  Lewis'  garden.  He  at  once  turned  out  all  his 
hands,  caught  the  hog  and  put  it  back  in  the  pen ;  and  he  used  a  large 
quantity  of  material  in  making  the  pen  hog-proof.  But,  alas,  in  a  few 
days  word  was  brought  that  the  hog  was  again  in  that  garden.  "  Turn 
out,"  said  he,  "  catch  him  ! "  Every  hand  ran  with  him,  and  the  catch 
was  made.  Four  men,  each  at  a  leg,  carried  the  unruly  animal  to  the 
pen,  and  were  about  to  put  it  in  his  old  home.  "  Not  there,  not 
there,"  said  he,  "  he  has  got  out  once  !  Take  him  to  the  shop  ! "  It 
was  done — for  an  authority,  prompt  as  military,  abided  there.  "Lay 
him  on  the  block  ! "  It  was  done  also ;  and  then,  with  his  hatchet,  he 
cut  off  the  hog's  head!  "There!"  cried  he,  "get  into  Mrs.  Lewis' 
garden  again,  will  you?" 

A  few  years  ago,  Rev.  Dr.  Davis  submitted  the  question  to  his  parish- 
ioners, whether  they  would  keep  Saturday  or  Sunday  night?  And  he 
requested  each  one  to  express  his  opinion  in  writing,  as  he  said  it  was 
desirable  to  have  an  uniformity  among  his  people  in  keeping  the  whole 
of  the  Lord's  day.  The  answer  of  Mr.  Grant  was  characteristic  of  the 
man.  It  ran  thus  : 

"I  am  not  strenuous;  but  I  always  have  kept  Saturday  night,  and 
I  always  shall.  E.  GRANT." 

Close  by  the  shop  was  a  small,  brick,  district  school-house,  and  then 
the  house  of  Mr.  George  Morgan,  who  died  there.  His  family  have 
all  removed,  except  his  widow  and  the  wife  of  Mr.  Reuben  Loomis  of 
Court  street  The  next,  house  east,  was  that  of  Mr  Jeremiah  Moseley, 
in  which  George  H.  Moseley  now  lives.  The  old  meeting-house  for- 
merly stood  on  the  corner,  this  side  of  the  meeting-house,  and  it  was 
burned  early  in  the  present  century,  before  my  birth.  The  "Court- 
end,"  or  center  of  the  town  was,  at  that  time,  there.  There  were  held 
the  town-meetings;  there  was  Mr.  Eager's  store;  and  there  that  in- 
dispensable adjunct  of  a  town-meeting,  the  large  tavern.  But,  as 
business  began  to  concentrate  about  "the  Green,"  and  the  principal  in- 
habitants to  follow  the  current  of  business  and  trade,  there  was  a  very 
natural  desire  for  a  central  sanctuary;  and,  probably  to  anticipate  a 
quiet  division,  some  over-zealous  "  reconstructionist "  applied  the  torch. 
It  was  said,  that  the  universal  people  mourned  the  loss  of  an  excellent 
bell,  and  the  town  clock.  It  is  a  pity,  at  least,  that  the  clock  was  burned, 
as  it  would  be  useful  in  correcting  the  irregularities  of  the  rickety 


APPENDIX.  185 

thing,  which  uow  counts  the  unequal  hours  in  the  turret  of  the  First 
Congregationalist  Church.  Mr.  Moseley  had  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren, one  of  whom  was  the  wife  of  the  late  Major  M.  Ives,  Jr.,  and  who 
died,  leaving  one  daughter,  wife  of  Mr.  Wood  of  Louisville,  Ky. ;  and 
the  only  remaining  one  of  them  now  alive,  is  George  H.  Moseley.  The 
next  house  east,  is  the  Henry  Taylor  house,  now  owned  by  his  son, 
Hezekiah.  Mr.  Taylor  died  several  years  ago,  leaving  a  family  of  chil- 
dren. 

Next  stood  the  old  red  house  of  Jedediah  Taylor,  on  the  bank  of  the 
river.  He  also  had  a  large  family  of  children,  and  died  at  a  good  old 
age.  In  fact,  it  was  fashionable  and  common  in  Westfield,  in  those 
days,  to  have  large  children,  and  large  families  of  children.  Many  of 
the  householders  aimed  at  a  dozen,  and  few  fell  short  of  half  that  num- 
ber. If  they  did  so,  they  commonly  made  up  in  length  and  quantity, 
the  lack  of  numbers.  Mr.  Taylor  was  one  of  the  largest  farmers  in 
town,  a  grave,  quiet  man,  and  no  one  stood  higher  than  he  did,  as  a 
judge  of  stock.  And  here  let  it  be  remembered,  that  his  son,  Major 
George  Taylor,  came  honestly  by  his  knowledge  on  this  subject;  as 
those  who  remember  the  "steer,"  and  who  bought  their  steaks  and 
roasting  pieces  can  testify.  It  is  said,  that  the  judgment  of  the  Taylor 
family,  in  regard  to  the  weight  of  cattle,  was  so  correct,  that  it  was 
used  to  test  the  accuracy  of  Fairbanks'  scales. 

The  first  meeting-house  in  this  town  stood  near  the  house  of  Mr. 
Taylor,  on  the  spot  where,  until  recently,  was  the  town  pound.  It  was 
a  small  building,  and  was  taken  down,  about  the  time  the  one  was  erected, 
which  was  afterwards  burned.  Both  of  them  had  large,  square,  upright 
pews,  with  few  of  the  conveniences  for  hearing,  resting,  and  keeping 
comfortable,  during  an  intolerably  long  sermon,  that  modern  houses  of 
worship  afford. 

I  believe  I  have  noticed  all  the  residences  in  Main  street,  at  the  pe- 
riod of  my  early  memory,  and  I  think  I  can  remember  the  erection  of 
all  the  others  in  that  busy  thoroughfare.  I  propose  to  go  into  some 
other  street  in  my  next  number. 


No.  8. — Beginning  at  Squire  Fowler's  corner,  as  it  was  called, 
though  it  was  not  angular  but  round,  the  first  building  north  of  the 
house,  was  the  Ashbel  Eager  store,  where  J.  H.  Morse  and  Dr.  H.  Hol- 
land trade.  He  had  removed  from  the  old  location  near  the  old  meet- 
ing-house, to  "  the  Green,"  and  kept  the  store  in  the  building  in  which  also 
was  kept  the  post-office,  and  which  was  burned  with  the  tavern  in  1833. 
24 


186  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Tlio  store  and  post-office  had  closed  shutters,  and  it  was  said  that  the 
latter  was  occasionally  used  for  a  social  game  of  cards.  On  one  of  these 
occasions,  on  a  Saturday  night,  an  unusual  interest  was  taken  in  the 
game,  and  some  small  sums  of  money  were  hazarded.  Entertainments 
also  were  provided,  of  which  those  who  did  not  engage  in  the  play,  of 
course,  partook.  At  last,  drowsiness  invaded  the  revellers,  and  they 
concluded  to  go  home.  What  was  their  surprise,  to  see,  on  opening 
the  door,  that  the  day  was  breaking,  and  that  the  snow,  which  had 
fallen  noiselessly  during  the  night,  was  some  three  feet  in  depth.  Their 
grief,  at  once  became  audible.  "  What  will  my  wife  say  ?"  said  one, 
"  How  shall  I  get  into  rny  house?"  said  another,  "  When  the  people 
come  to  meeting,  they  will  see  the  trails  from  this  office  to  all  the 
points  of  the  compass,  and  every  one  will  know  what  has  been  going  on, 
and  who  has  been  engaged  here !  "  said  a  third.  Amid  the  varied 
expressions  of  regret,  one  of  the  company,  who  seemed  to  feel  more 
sorrowful  than  the  rest,  at  last  broke  out  in  the  following  lamentation  : 
"  You  have  played  cards,  and  made  money !  You  have  played  and 
lost  money  !  you  have  come  out  about  even  !  you  all  have  enjoyed 
the  gaming !  but  I  have  done  nothing  but  mix  up  the  liquor,  and  hold 
the  candle  !" 

Adjacent  to  the  store  was  the  tavern,  kept  by  Mr.  Goodenough,  who 
ultimately  removed  to  Montreal  where  he  kept  a  first-class  tavern.  It 
was  a  large,  three  story  building,  with  a  hall  in  the  upper  story  for 
dancing-schools,  balls,  parties,  &c.  After  Mr.  Goodenough  left, 
Joseph  Morgan  kept  the  tavern.  The'n  Major  Archippus  Morgan  took 
possession,  and  kept  it  for  several  years,  till  at  last  he  removed  to  a 
hotel  in  Hartford ;  and  from  there,  he  returned  to  this  town,  and  built 
the  house  on  the  corner  of  Court  and  Broad  Streets,  in  which  he  lived 
till  his  death.  The  tavern  was  then  the  stage-house,  on  the  road  from 
Boston  to  Albany,  and  was  frequented  by  a  large  number  of  travelers. 
It  was  also  the  place  of  resort  for  the  people  of  the  town.  It  was  a 
sort  of  modern  exchange ;  with  an  addition,  in  the  shape  of  a  liquid, 
yclept  flip,  which  modern  "exchanges"  do  not  provide.  In  the  coals  of 
the  bar-room  wood-fire,  were  kept  a  suitable  number  of  flip-irons ;  and 
after  the  small-beer,  made  of  hops,  dried  pumpkins,  and  other  ingredi- 
ents, which  compound  required  an  infusion  of  Santa  Croix,  or  some 
other  stimulant,  to  render  it  intoxicating,  had  been  modified  by  the 
addition  of  eggs  and  sugar  stirred  together,  one  of  these  irons  was 
thrust  into  the  "  mug,  "  or  "  half  mug,  "  as  a  dose  for  two,  or  one 
person,  was  called,  until  the  liquor  was  raised  to  212°  Fahrenheit, 
in  which  state  it  was  passed  to  the  guests,  and  then, — I  declare 


APPENDIX.  187 

the  bare  narration,  revives  the  pleasures  of  my  infancy  !  and  I  almost 
feel  like  trying  a  brew  of  the  article,  just  to  ascertain  whether  the 
flavor  which  abides  upon  my  palate  to  this  hour,  is  a  true,  or  a  fanciful 
recollection ;  whether  I  am  indebted  for  my  enjoyment  to  Rogers;  or 
Akenside. 

At  one  of  the  gatherings  at  the  tavern,  the  flip  had  performed  its 
more  than  accustomed  rounds,  and  the  sitting  had  been  prolonged  to  a 
later  than  the  usual  hour.  At  last  the  company  broke  up,  and  left  for 
home.  One  old  gentleman,  who  lived  some  two  or  three  miles  off,  was 
unable  to  find  his  horse.  He  was  a  splendid  glossy  black,  without  a 
white  hair  upon  him ;  and  was  so  well  acquainted  with  the  peculiarities 
of  his  master,  that  in  whatever  state  of  mind  or  body  his  master  was,  he 
would  carry  him  safely  home.  At  the  usual  hitching-post,  there  stood  a 
horse,  but  it  was  not  his.  It  had  a  star  in  the  forehead,  and  four  white 
feet,  and  he  disclaimed  the  ownership  of  a  horse  with  such  vile  marks 
upon  him.  So  he  took  to  the  road,  and  footed  it  home,  as  well  as  his  fat, 
and  his  gout  would  permit.,  In  the  morning,  he  was  in  town  betimes, 
with  the  offer  of  a  large  reward  for  the  horse  or  the  thief.  He  declared 
that  he  had  left  him  the  night  before,  at  the  post  where  that  white-foot- 
horse  then  stood ;  that  no  one  knew  the  owner  of  the  latter,  and  that  in 
his  opinion,  the  thief  had  left  the  old,  white-footed,  broken-down  speci- 
men, which  stood,  with  hanging  head  at  the  post,  in  exchange  for  his 
own  high  mettle  steed.  At  last,  some  one  proposed  to  try  the  mettle  of 
the  abandoned  horse.  A  boy  mounted  him,  and  with  a  little  switch, 
he  started  up,  with  a  fine  gait ;  and  in»the  judgment  of  the  bystanders, 
was  a  more  valuable  beast  than  the  stolen  one.  Upon  looking  at  the 
mouth,  to  learn  his  age,  the  white  star  began  to  rattle  off,  and  a  little 
rubbing  removed  every  trace  of  white  from  his  face  and  feet.  The  sad- 
dle, too,  was  recognized,  and,  in  short,  the  old  captain  found  that  some 
one  had  improved  the  animal  by  a  little  whitewash.  "Confound  that 
rascal,"  said  the  old  captain,  calling  the  wag  by  his  supposed  name,  "to 
make  me  travel  three  miles' on  foot,  to  gratify  his  deviltry." 


No.  9. — On  the  site  of  the  brick  building,  where  the  office  of  Wil- 
liam G.  Bates,  and  the  store  of  C.  I.  Snow  are  now  kept,  was  formerly 
an  old  wood  store,  owned  and  occupied  by  Mr.  Lyman  Lewis ;  and  at 
the  period  of  "  the  late  war,"  as  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  was 
called,  it  was  removed,  at  first  to  the  present  site  of  the  Hampden 
Bank,  and  subsequently,  to  where  the  Whitman  block  now  stands,  from 
whence  it  took  up  its  line  of  march  to  one  of  the  lateral  streets,  on  the 


188  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

west  of  Elm  street,  and  was  at  last  metamorphosed  into  a  dwelling- 
house.  The  brick  store,  first  spoken  of,  was  erected  about  the  year 
1813,  and  was  the  first  erection  of  the  kind  in  Westfield.  It  was  a 
splendid  building.  The  step-stones  were  cut  from  sandstone,  by  a 
workman  in  West  Springfield,  and  the  store  was  large  and  spacious ;  it 
was  three  stories  in  height ;  and,  though  it  wanted  its  present  piazza,  it 
was  called  "the  brick  store,"  and  regarded  as  a  monument  of  the 
enterprise  of  the  builders.  Those  who  look  upon  it  now,  enlarged  and 
improved  as  it  is,  will  readily  perceive  the  difference  between  the 
simple  taste  of  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  ambitious,  pretentious,  and  ex- 
travagant desire  for  display,  which  has  become  a  vice  of  this  age.  We 
ought,  of  course,  to  make  our  stores  comfortable,  and  to  construct  them 
substantially,  and  upon  substantial  foundations ;  but,  if  there  was  less 
of  the  gorgeous  in  their  appearance,  and  more  of  mercantile  honor  in 
the  business,  and,  what  is  also  greatly  to  be  desired,  if  the  merchants 
would  prefer  to  pay  their  debts,  live  within  their  means,  and  look  with 
a  proper  feeling  upon  insolvency,  it  would  be  an  advantage,  not  merely 
to  the  merchants,  but  to  their  customers. 

Next  north  of  the  "  brick  store,"  was  a  wooden  store,  formerly  owned 
by  the  late  Bohan  King,  the  father  of  Henry,  William  and  Seth  King. 
He  was  a  hatter,  and  died  many  years  ago.  The  store  was  once  occu- 
pied by  Richard  Falley,  who  was  an  inveterate  fisherman.  He  would 
leave  the  key  in  the  door,  and  with  his  fishing  rod,  would  take  to  the 
streams,  as  if  fishing  was  the  main  business  of  his  life.  One  of  his 
friends  remonstrated  with  him,  Alleging  that  his  absences  incommoded 
his  friends  who  wished  to  buy  goods.  "  Why,"  said  Falley,  "  I  always 
leave  the  key  in  the  door !"  "Yes,  but  they  may  omit  to  leave  the 
money,  or  to  charge  for  the  goods  taken,  and  so  you  will  fail." 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  that  may  be  so ;  but,  if  a  store  can't  support  itself, 
it's  no  store  for  me  !  " 

It  was  subsequently  occupied  by  William  Hooker,  Jr.,  and  Jonathan 
Taylor,  for  a  long  number  of  years.  Colonel  Hooker  came  from  West- 
hampton,  and  Mr.  Taylor  from  Montgomery.  The  firm  was  at  last  dis- 
solved, Taylor  continuing  in  their  old  store,  and  Hooker  removing  into 
the  drugstore,  with  Jessup  &  Co.,  where  Dr.  H.  Holland  now  keeps. 
Mr.  Taylor  removed  to  Andover,  where  one  of  his  sons,  Edward,  resides. 
Colonel  Hooker  remained  here  till  his  recent  death.  As  a  merchant,  and 
as  a  man,  Colonel  Hooker  was  a  most  estimable  person.  In  the  store  of 
Hooker  &  Taylor,  there  was  no  jockeying, — no  "two  prices"  for  goods. 
Every  one  knew,  that  if  they  sent  a  child  for  goods,  the  order  would  be 
supplied,  as  if  they  went  themselves.  There  was  no  marking  down  of 


APPENDIX.  189 

a  few  articles,  to  a  sum  below  cost,  as  a  bait  to  cajole  customers, 
whoever  tbey  might  be,  and  each  customer  went  away  with  perfect 
confidence  in  the  good  faith  of  those  estimable  merchants.  In  the 
long  life  which  they  led  here,  they  left  no  stain  upon  their  mercantile 
reputation. 

For  several  years  before  his  death,  Colonel  Hooker  was  in  poor  health, 
and  out  of  business.  He  was  a  most  genial  man ;  always  in  good  hu- 
mor, always  kindly  and  friendly;  attentive  to  the  sick,  ministering  to 
the  suffering  and  afflicted  ;  a  pleasant  companion,  as  well  to  the  child  as 
to  the  person  of  mature  age ;  and  when  he  left  this  world  for  a  better, 
he  left  no  better  man  behind  him.  "His  life  was  gentle!"  *  * 
"This  was  a  man!  " 

It  may  be  interesting  to  the  readers  of  the  "Times,"  to  have  the 
names  of  the  several  occupants  of  the  public  buildings  on  the  west  side 
of  "the  Green,"  during  the  present  half  century.  Ashbell  Eager  and 
Hon.  Samuel  Fowler  were  in  partnership  in  the  store  where  Dr.  Hol- 
land and  James  Morse  now  occupy ;  then  Fowler  &  Douglass  (Capt. 
Charles)  ;  then  Farnam,  King  &  Co.,  consisting  of  Jesse  Farnam,  Da- 
vid King  and  James  Fowler ;  then  Thomas  Ashley  ;  then  William  King, 
Jr.;  then  Jessup  &  Co.,  and  Colonel  Hooker;  then  Dr.  Henry  Hol- 
land, and  James  H.  Morse. 

The  tavern  has  been  occupied  by  Capt.  Adnah  Sackett ;  Samuel 
Eldredge  ;  his  son  Samuel  Eldredge,  the  father  of  John  B.  Eldredge ; 
Asa  Goodenough  ;  Joseph  Morgan,  who  removed  to  Hartford,  and  whose 
son  is  one  of  the  firm  of  Peabody,  the  London  banker ;  Major  Archip- 
pus  Morgan  ;  John  A.  Swan  ;  Charles  K.  Bingham  and  I.  M.  Parsons  ; 
I.  M.  Parsons ;  Charles  Brown  ;  Lewis  Chapman ;  A.  B.  Whitman  ; 
Mr.  Fairfield,  and  Mr.  Pickard,  the  present  occupant. 

The  brick  store  was  occupied  by  Lyman  Lewis,  Robert  Whitney, 
Deacon  A.  G.  Chadwick,  A.  E.  Jessup,  J.  R.  Rand,  Albert  Rand 
and  George  Whitman,  Snow  &  Thayer,  Charles  I.  Snow,  and  Tim- 
othy Snow. 

The  King  store,  by  Richard  Falley,  Major  Witter,  James  Douglass, 
Thomas  Sheldon  and  King;  Loring  Palmer,  Dr.  Clark,  druggist, 
Hooker  &  Taylor,  and  Major  Joseph  Root  kept  the  post-office  in  the 
part  occupied  by  Dr.  Clark  as  a  drugstore. 


No.  10. — North  of  the  Great  River  bridge,  the  changes  in  the 
appearance  of  that  locality  are  still  more  marked  and  noticeable.  The 
erection  of  the  bridge  itself,  has  wrought  a  marvelous  effect  upon  the 


190  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

prosperity  of  that  portion  of  the  town.  The  old  bridge  was  erected 
across  the  river,  in  a  line  just  in  front  of  the  Major  Noble  door-yard 
fence,  the  house  now  being  occupied  by  Mr.  Rockwell,  who  purchased 
the  estate  of  the  heirs  of  Major  Noble.  The  latter  was  a  mill-wright, 
and  an  ingenious,  hard-laboring  man.  He  purchased  the  grist  and 
saw-mill,  which  formerly  belonged  to  Chauncey  Atkins,  and  which 
were  much  out  of  repair,  and  went  to  work  upon  them.  They  were  soon 
put  in  a  more  efficient  state,  and  the  public  were  better  accommodated 
by  his  enterprise.  He  was  a  short,  thick-set  man,  every  lineament  of 
whose  face,  and  whose  every  motion  indicated  the  spirit  of  determin- 
ation, which  was  incorporated  in  him,  and  which  formed  a  part  of  his 
being.  When  Major  Noble  made  up  his  mind,  it  was  made  up! 
Change  or  yielding,  seemed  to  be  no  part  of  his  nature.  I  do  not 
mean  that  he  was  an  unreasonable  man,  in  forming  his  opinions.  So 
far  as  I  had  occasion  to  know  him,  in  that  respect,  he  was  careful  and 
circumspect,  and  also  fair  and  candid ;  But,  after  he  had  settled  upon 
a  conclusion,  there  was  the  end  of  discussion  and  negotiation.  The 
"  ita  senatus  decrevit!  "  was  not  more  unbending.  I  happened  to  have 
several  opportunities  of  observing  this  trait  in  his  character,  as  his 
counsel ;  and  I  think  I  have  never  seen  it  displayed  in  a  more  decided 
manner. 

He  made  an  impression  upon  the  troops  of  men  and  boys,  as  well  as 
upon  the  militia,  by  his  appearance  on  parade.  His  large,  burly  body, 
somewhat  resembling  the  portraits  of  the  late  President  Taylor,  arrayed 
in  a  suit  of  dark  blue,  with  his  half-moon  hat,  and  a  flaming  red 
feather,  stretching  up  from  it,  and  that  large,  square,  stern  face,  and 
those  large,  glaring  eyes,  looking  for  all  the  world,  as  if  the  sword 
which  he  wore  was  ready  to  spring  outward  to  his  hand,  at  every  breach 
of  discipline  by  his  troops,  or  any  misconduct  upon  his  lines,  by  the 
spectators,  presented  an  appearance  of  military  energy  and  decision, 
which  the  more  benignant,  and  firm  look  of  General  Shepard,  or  the 
bustling  manner  of  Adjutant  Dewey,  with  his  gleaming  spontoon, 
failed  to  display. 

The  Great  River  bridge,  at  that  time,  was  an  uncovered  wooden  struc- 
ture, placed  on  trestle-work,  and  was  about  six  hundred  feet  long.  At 
the  south  end,  a  causeway  was  built  up  to  the  shore,  sufficiently  high, 
in  common  freshets,  to  prevent  the  river  from  running  over  it,  but  which, 
in  the  great  spring  and  fall  freshets,  was  swept  away,  by  the  fierce  and 
foaming  torrent  of  the  stream.  The  traveler,  who  rides  along  the  banks 
of  the  Westfield  River,  from  West  Springfield  to  Becket,  and  sees  it,  at 
times  calm  and  placid,  and  at  others  almost  diverted  from  its  bed  into  the 


APPENDIX.  191 

canals  and  flumes  of  the  manufacturing  establishments,  which  its  waters 
propel,  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that,  in  the  trial  of  the  case  of  Dickin- 
son and  Boyle,  in  1855,  it  was  proved,  that  the  water  rose  eighteen  feet 
in  a  single  night !  It  was  not  to  be  expected,  that  a  bridge  of  that  kind, 
standing  on  trestle-posts  in  the  rapids  below  the  dam,  when  huge  cakes 
of  ice  from  the  pond  were  hurled  down  against  its  foundations  by  such 
an  irresistible  current,  could  withstand,  for  a  long  time,  the  immense 
shock ;  and  the  fact  was,  that  rarely  did  one  of  the  great  freshets  occur, 
when  some  portion  of  the  bridge  was  not  borne  off  by  the  waters,  and 
the  causeway  washed  away.  The  constantly  recurring  expense  of  re- 
pairing the  bridge  and  causeway,  and  of  rebuilding  the  parts  removed, 
suggested  to  several  of  the  citizens  the  necessity  of  changing  the  site  to 
its  present  location.  There  was  a  strong  opposition  to  the  plan.  It  in- 
volved the  payment  of  land-damages,  and  especially  damages  to  the 
mill-yard  of  Major  Noble  ;  it  changed  the  public  travel,  which  formerly 
went  past  the  old  hotel,  and  the  house  of  Ira  Yeamans,  Sen. ;  and  then 
the  enormous  expense  of  a -covered  bridge,  with  stone  piers  and  abut- 
ments, were  all  held  up  as  a  bugbear  to  frighten  and  terrify  those  eco- 
nomical and  timid  souls,  who  did  not  know  that  "  there  is  that  with- 
holdeth  more  than  is  meet,"  which  "  tendeth  to  poverty."  The  result 
of  a  long,  and  animated  discussion,  in  town-meeting,  was  a  vote,  in 
which  six  persons  only,  voted  for  the  project,  in  opposition  to  the  resi- 
due of  the  town. 

This  decisive  vote,  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  agitation.  The  friends 
of  the  project  were  active  and  resolute.  The  books  of  the  town  were 
ransacked,  and  the  expenses  of  maintaining  the  then  present  bridge, 
were  exhibited  with  a  startling  amount.  But,  still  they  were  met  with 
a  decided  refusal.  Fortunately,  for  the  interests  of  the  town,  the  bridge 
over  Little  River  went  off  at  that  time  ;  and  the  majority  so  far  yielded 
to  the  pertinacity  of  those  rash  innovators,  as  to  consent,  that  a  covered 
bridge  might  be  erected  at  that  place,  which  they  hoped  would  convince 
them  of  their  error.  It  was  accordingly  erected.  The  result  was  satis- 
factory, but  it  was  not  the  result  expected.  Those,  who  had  taken  the 
lead  in  the  opposition,  became  advocates  of  the  proposed  change ;  and, 
at  the  next  fortunate  flood,  which,  as  if  to  drown  out  the  whole  evil  ele- 
ment of  opposition,  swept  away  almost  every  vestige  of  the  bridge,  the 
town  voted  to  change  the  location,  and  to  build  the  present  covered 
bridge.  The  erection  was  completed  in  1840;  and  now,  for  a  period 
of  over  thirty  years,  the  town  has  saved  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
dollars,  by  the  improvement,  not  to  speak  of  numberless  other  advan- 
tages, affecting  the  convenience,  safety  and  comfort  of  our  citizens. 


192  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

No.  11. — Noticing,  a  few  days  since,  the  decease  of  the  Rev.  Hiram 
Biugham,  one  of  the  first  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  we  are 
led,  by  a  very  natural  association,  to  his  wife,  formerly  one  of  our  citi- 
zens, and  to  the  circumstances  connected  with  her  marriage,  her  enter- 
prise, and  its  results. 

Sybil  Moseley  was  the  daughter  of  Lieut.  Pliny  Moseley,  who  lived 
in  the  house  now  occupied  by  the  widow  of  James  Bush.  She  was 
born  September  14,  1792,  and  educated  at  Westfield  Academy.  Her 
parents  died  in  1810,  and  1811;  and  she  and  her  three  sisters,  were 
thus  left  orphans.  Sybil  was  a  good  scholar ;  and  when  she  arrived  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one,  she  commenced  teaching,  in  different  and  distant 
towns.  She  was  a  remarkably  mild  and  gentle  person  in  her  manners ; 
in  fact,  her  portrait,  taken  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  reveals  the  char- 
acter of  her  mind  and  heart.  The  portraits, — her  husband's  being  also 
taken  on  the  same  canvass, — were  sent  by  him  to  Mr.  Bates,  for  exhi- 
bition at  the  bi-centennial  jubilee,  and  he  placed  them  in  the  Westfield 
Athenaeum.  Soon  after  her  connection  with  the  church,  in  1812,  she 
conceived  the  idea  of  becoming  a  missionary.  Elijah  Bates,  Esq.,  be- 
came the  guardian  of  the  property  of  the  children;  and,  when  not  out  of 
town,  they  made  it  their  home  at  his  house.  Missionaryism  was  a  fre- 
quent subject  of  conversation ;  and  Sybil  used  to  amuse  the  family  by  her 
fanciful  pictures  of  future  life,  seated  in  a  large  rocking-chair,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  school  of  little,  half-clad  heathens,  imbibing  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  alphabet,  and  of  theology  from  her  instructions.  While  on 
a  visit  in  Connecticut,  she  heard  of  an  ordination  of  missionaries,  which 
was  to  take  place,  at  Goshen,  who  were  intending  to  commence  their 
work  in  the  evangelization  of  the  Sandwich  Islands;  and  she,  at  once, 
repaired  thither,  to  attend  the  ceremony.  She  was,  of  course,  intro- 
duced to  them  ;  and,  in  company  with  Mr.  Bingham,  she  came  to  Hart- 
ford, and,  after  a  visit  to  his  friends  there,  to  Westfield.  The  announce- 
ment of  so  sudden  an  arrangement,  was,  of  course,  a  great  matter  of 
surprise  to  all  the  people  here;  but,  in  the  course  of  four  weeks,  the 
newly  married  pair  started  for  the  place  of  their  future  labors.  The 
occasion  was  one  of  great  interest.  It  was  sudden.  It  was  a  new 
thing.  The  Isles  were  in  a  state  of  savageism.  It  was  the  place  of 
the  murder  of  Capt.  Cook ;  and  the  inhabitants  were  accounted  as  lit- 
tle better  than  cannibals.  But,  neither  she,  or  her  husband  faltered; 
and,  starting  in  the  fall  of  1819,  with  the  good  wishes  and  prayers  of 
all  her  friends,  she  arrived  at  her  place  of  destination  in  the  spring  of 
1820. 

The  result  of  her  labors  there,  in  conjunction  with  her  fellow-labor- 


APPENDIX.  193 

ers,  has  been  of  world-wide  importance.  Those  beautiful  islands  have 
been  redeemed  from  heathenism ;  and,  though  the  population  has  de- 
creased in  its  numbers,  yet  the  people  have  increased  in  intelligence, 
and  the  products  of  their  labor  have  added  to  the  comforts  of  the  world. 
I  doubt  not,  but  that  Mrs.  Bitigham  was  not  surpassed,  in  her  devotion 
and  zeal,  and  in  her  earnest  and  faithful  labors,  by  any  other  missionary, 
who  ever  went  forth  to  a  foreign  land.  Her  whole  soul  was  in  the  work. 
She  was,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  fitted  for  it ;  and  there  was  a  pervading 
enthusiasm  in  her  mind,  which  gave  to  her  whole  life,  the  highest  im- 
pulse of  Christian  duty. 

In  1840,  her  failing  health  compelled  her  to  relinquish  this  great  ob- 
ject of  her  life.  She  returned  here,  the  mere  wreck  of  her  former 
self ;  and,  after  a  few  years  of  suffering,  she  died  in  1848.  Some  time 
after  her  death,  her  husband  was  married  to  Naomi,  the  daughter  of 
the  late  Jacob  Morse,  with  whom  he  lived  until  his  death,  a  few  weeks 
since,  at  New  Haven.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  energy  and  devo- 
tion. He  aimed  at  nothing  less,  than  to  do  his  part  in  the  conversion 
of  the  world.  Certainly,  he  took,  as  we  express  it,  in  homely  language, 
the  butt-end  of  the  log  !  We  can  scarcely  conceive  of  a  more  unprom- 
ising, or  a  more  dangerous  place  for  missionary  labor.  But,  on  the 
arrival  of  this  devoted  band,  the  doors  seemed  to  swing  open ;  and,  in- 
stead of  the  perils  which  their  friends  anticipated,  they  entered  at  once, 
into  the  confidence  of  the  King,  and  of  a  people,  which  was  disposed 
to  listen  to  their  teachings.  Mr.  Bingham  soon  became  "  the  power 
behind  the  throne;"  and  some  of  that  class  of  residents,  and  tempor- 
ary sojourners,  who  felt  the  restraints  of  wholesome  laws,  upon  un- 
bridled passion,  were  accustomed  to  call  him  "  King  Bingham  !  "  But, 
whether  he  was  king  or  subject,  he  adhered  to  his  great  work.  He  sus- 
tained the  King,  in  his  abolishment  of  idolatry.  He  formed  their 
lingual  jargon,  into  a  written  language.  He  translated  the  gospel, 
school  books,  and  psalms  and  hymns  into  the  language  of  Polynesia. 
He  introduced  these  benign  influences  and  improvements,  which  have 
swept  away  the  mud-built  hovels  of  a  filthy  Indian  village,  and  substi- 
tuted the  elegant  residences  of  a  Christian  city.  He  lived  to  see  an 
idolatrous  nation,  sunk  in  the  lowest  depths  of  human  degradation,  ele- 
vated to  a  state  of  industry  and  intelligence,  and  taking  a  respectable 
rank  in  the  family  of  nations. 

The  funeral  of  Mr.  Bingham  was  fully  attended  by  a  large  concourse 
of  people ;  and  the  efforts  which  he  had  put  forth  in  human  improve- 
ment, were  well  delineated  by  the  clergyman,  who  led  in  the  devotional 
exercises. 

26 


194  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

No.  12. — About  the  year  1815,  there  came  to  this  town  two  bachelor 
brothers, — Samuel  and  Elijah  Arnold.  They  established  a  store  in  the 
building,  next  east  of  the  Hampden  Bank.  In  process  of  time,  they 
dissolved ;  "  Uncle  Sam,  "as  he  was  called,  occupying  the  easterly, 
and  Elijah,  the  westerly  tenement.  Elijah,  after  many  years  of  bach- 
elorhood, married  Hetty  Clapp  of  Southampton,  and  lived,  until  his 
death,  November,  1850,  in  the  old  Benjamin  Hastings  house,  where 
are  now  the  Westfield  Atheneum,  and,  rearward,  the  large  buildings 
of  the  American  Whip  Company. 

Uncle  Sam  was  a  marked  character.  Some  people  thought  him 
insane  ;  others,  merely  very  odd  :  but  all  agreed,  that  there  was  some 
"  method  in  his  madness, "  and  some  shrewdness  in  his  peculiarities. 
He  was  a  large-framed,  tall  man,  with  broad,  high  shoulders,  a  bright 
eye,  a  well-shaped  head,  long  limbs,  with  large  hands  and  feet ;  and 
with  a  sharp,  shrill  voice,  which  could  be  heard  to  the  extent  of  the 
"  Green."  He  was  very  plainly  and  coarsely  dressed,  usually  in  a 
dark  butternut  colored  suit,  of  home-made  family  cloth,  made  by  some 
cheap  tailoress  ;  and  his  coat,  vest  and  pantaloons,  all  of  the  same  color, 
an  unbleached  cotton  shirt,  a  pair  of  blue  yarn  stockings,  cowhide 
shoes,  and  an  antiquated  hat,  constituted  all  his  apparel,  either  of  use 
or  ornament.  He  did  not  need  a  great-coat ;  for  he  seldom  went  abroad, 
his  locomotion  being  confined  to  his  store  ;  and  the  particular  part  of  it, 
where  he  wore  out  the  greater  part  of  his  shoes,  being  the  step-stone, 
or  the  floor  of  the  door-way.  This  was  his  stand-point !  When  the 
weather  was  tempestuous,  or  very  cold,  he  would  close  his  door,  and 
retreat  to  the  store ;  but,  when  the  sun  shone,  or  the  air  was  not  too 
cold,  he  was  constant,  as  a  sentry  in  his  box,  at  the  door,  or  on  the 
stone,  with  a  cane,  about  four  and  a  half  feet  long,  watching  every 
movement  upon  the  "  Green,"  calling  up  his  customers  for  a  trade,  in- 
quiring of  strangers  the  state  of  religion,  or  engaged  in  polemical  dis- 
cussions, with  any  one,  whom  he  could  provoke  into  argument.  He 
was  a  zealous  Baptist,  and  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  anything  that  per- 
tained to  that  denomination.  His  partiality  for  his  sect  sometimes 
brought  him  to  loss ;  for  his  faith  was  large,  and  those  who  wished  to 
defraud  him,  sometimes  pretended  to  belong  to  that  denomination.  On 
a  sunshiny  winter's  day,  as  he  stood  in  his  door-way,  a  man  drove  along 
leisurely,  in  front  of  his  store,  upon  a  load  of  shingles.  "  Good  morn- 
ing, friend,"  said  Uncle  Sam.  "Good  morning,"  replied  the  hare- 
lipped  traveler,  though  without  stopping  his  horses.  "  Here,  why  don't 
you  stop  ?  Where  do  you  come  from  ?  "  "I  come  from  Becket ;  but 
I  can't  stop,  for  I  must  hurry  on  to  Springfield  to  sell  my  shingles." 


APPENDIX.  195 

"What's  the  state  of  religion  in  Becket?"  "Pretty  good,  in  our 
society!  the  other  societies  aint  doing  much."  "Our  society,"  said 
Uncle  Sam,  "  what  society  do  you  belong  to  ?"  "  The  Baptist  society, 
of  course !  I  wouldn't  belong  to  any  other.  I'm  an  elder  in  it,  in 
Becket."  "  You're  an  elder,  are  you  !  What  are  you  going  to  Spring- 
field with  them  shingles  for?"  "Because  I  can  get  S3  a  bunch  for 
them."  "Well,  drive  them  into  my  lumber-yard,  there  at  your  left, 
and  unload,  and  come  here,  brother,  and  get  your  pay.  You'll  take 
half  cash,  and  half  store  pay,  won't  you  ?  "  "  Why,  I  suppose  I  must, 
if  you're  one  of  our  folks,"  said  the  Baptist  elder.  He  accordingly 
unloaded,  returned  to  the  store,  received  his  pay,  related  to  the  de- 
lighted Uncle  Sam,  the  wonderful  progress  of  religion,  in  the  Bap- 
tist society  in  Becket,  and  after  a  cordial  parting,  went  to  his  own 
place. 

A  few  days  after,  Uncle'  Sam  directed  a  customer  to  his  yard  for 
some  first  quality  shingles,  bought  of  one  of  "our  folks,"  a  pious  Bap- 
tist elder  in  Becket.  He  was  assured  that  there  were  no  such  shingles 
in  the  yard  ;  and,  on  repairing  there,  he  found  a  few  bunches  of  wormy, 
rotten  shingles,  which  were  entirely  valueless. 

It  was  not  long  before  he  saw  a  man  driving  past,  with  a  load  of 
shingles ;  and,  conceiving  him  to  be  the  one,  he  exclaimed, — "  Here, 
you  confounded,  lying,  cheating,  hare-lipped  Baptist  elder !  Come 
back,  I  say,  you  infernal  scoundrel,  and  tell  me  about  the  state  of  re- 
ligion in  the  Baptist  society,  in  Becket ! "  But,  whether  or  not  the 
man  was  the  veritable  person,  who  had  assumed  the  elder's  title,  he 
didn't  seem  to  hear  Uncle  Sam's  call,  but  drove  on  towards  Springfield 
to  supply  some  person  in  that  market. 

Mr.  Arnold  was  a  man,  who  affected  to  place  great  reliance  upon 
prayer.  Indeed,  he  rarely  made  a  bargain,  without,  as  he  expressed  it, 
asking  the  opinion  of  the  Lord.  He  purchased  and  sold  many  and 
large  tracts  of  real  estate,  in  different  and  distant  parts  of  the  town, 
without  seeing  them,  relying  upon  the  information,  as  he  averred,  thus 
obtained.  Whether  this  was  so,  or  because,  in  his  numerous  conversa- 
tions with  the  world's  people,  he  was  also  aided,  it  is  certain,  that  he 
generally,  in  his  purchases  and  sales,  made  sharp  bargains. 

An  old  woman,  one  Hepsibah  Brewer,  lived  in  one  of  his  buildings, 
and  was  a  frequent  object  of  his  charity.  One  day  she  came  into  his 
store,  in  a  hurry,  and  said  :  "Uncle  Sam,  I  want  a  cod-fish."  "  Go 
and  get  it  then,"  said  he.  She  started  for  his  back  room,  and  he  cried 
out, — "  Not  there  !  not  there  !  I've  no  cod-fish  for  you  ! "  "  Yes,  you 
have  got  cod-fish,  too,  and  I  want  one.  It's  late  !  "  "  Well,"  said  he, 


196  WESTF1ELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

"I  thiuk  we'll  ask  the  Lord  about  it."  "  Now,  Mr.  Arnold,  what  do 
you  want  to  be  so  foolish  for?  I'm  in  a  hurry  for  it."  "  Very  well ; 
if  you  can't  wait  on  the  Lord,  go  where  you  can  do  better  !  But, 
Hepsy,  no  prayer,  no  cod-6sh ! "  Aunt  Hepsy  threw  herself  down 
upon  her  aged  knees,  exclaiming,  in  no  very  reverential  tones,  "  If  you 
want  to  pray,  pray  then  ! "  Uncle  Sam  knelt  down  beside  her,  and  his 
prayer  ran  in  this  wise  :  "  0,  Lord,  here  is  Hepsy  again  after  another 
fish  !  It  seems  to  us,  you  know,  that  she  comes  rather  often  !  But  I 
don't  know  that  we  had  not  better  let  her  have  one  this  time,  as,  she 
seems  to  be  in  a  hurry,  and  the  next  time  she  must  go  to  'Lijah's  or 
some  of  the  neighbors."'  As  he  arose  from  his  knees,  he  said,  "  Well, 
Hepsy,  the  Lord  says  you  may  have  some  fish;  but  don't  take  the 
whole  ones ;  pick  out  the  broken  fish ;  they  are  just  as  good  for  you, 
and  they  don't  sell  as  well." 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  undergo 
a  surgical  operation.  He  shrank  from  it,  prayed,  and  failed  to  receive 
a  favorable  sign.  At  last  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  call  in  Dr.  Flint, 
in  consultation  with  Dr.  Shurtleff,  his  physician.  Dr.  Flint,  as  was 
usual  with  him,  was  very  decided,  and  expressed  himself  in  rather 
strong  language.  Mr.  Arnold  finally  concluded  to  ask  the  Lord.  Dr. 
Flint  said,  "  I  don't  care  who  you  ask;  but  anybody  that  knows  any- 
thing, will  tell  you  that  if  you  don't  have  an  operation,  you'll  die!" 
He  knelt  down,  in  the  presence  of  the  physicians,  and  prayed  thus : 
"  Thou  knowest,  0,  Lord,  that  we  didn't  think  it  would  be  necessary 
to  have  an  operation;  but  it  seems  thy  young  servant  knows  better 
than  we  did.  And  now  he  has  brought  this  Dr.  Flint,  who  agrees 
with  him.  I  don't  know  who  Dr.  Flint  is;  but  he  swears  pretty 
strong !  Still,  Thy  young  servant  says  he  is  a  good  surgeon,  though 
he  is  a  hard  swearer.  But,  if  he  is  going  to  operate  on  me,  I  hope 
you'll  see  to  it,  that  he  does  it  in  the  best  way!"  "Amen!" 
roared  out  Dr.  Flint;  and  the  operation  was  consented  to,  readily, 
and  performed. 

He  died  in  the  year  1848,  at  the  age  of  71.  With  all  his  oddity, 
he  was  a  very  good  sort  of  a  man.  His  charities  were  not  always  the 
most  wisely  bestowed,  and  he  was  the  subject  of  frequent  imposition. 
But  he  was  a  man  of  good  intentions,  and  the  world  was  much  better, 
because  he  had  lived  in  it.  

No.  13. — Silver  street,  more  than  any  one  of  the  principal  streets  of 
the  town,  has  retained  its  original  appearance.  The  greater  part  of  all 
the  old  houses,  which  were  standing  in  the  early  part  of  this  century, 


APPENDIX.  197 

are  still  there,  and  comparatively  but  a  few  new  ones  have  been  added 
to  the  number.  It  is  a  pleasant  street,  and  its  position,  in  reference  to 
soil,  dryuess,  and  other  agricultural  advantages,  caused  it  to  be  built 
upon  early.  Each  occupant,  at  the  time  of  the  apportionments  of  the 
proprietary  lands,  received  an  extensive  grant ;  and  the  fertility  of  the 
soil,  the  increase  of  the  property,  and  the  industry  of  the  population, 
had  the  effect  of  causing  their  original  grants  of  land  to  be  kept  to- 
gether in  families.  It  extends  from  Little  River,  parallel  with  Main 
street,  to  Broad  street,  and  thence  running  easterly,  converges  gradu- 
ally towards  Court  street,  until  it  is  merged  into  it,  opposite  the  ceme- 
tery. , 

At  the  eastern  end  of  Silver  street,  are  situated  the  houses,  once 
occupied  by  Blackleach  Fowler,  (Phoebus !  what  a  name!)  Charles 
Dewey,  Roland  Dewey,  Timothy  Dewey,  Leonard  Bush,  Aaron  Bush 
and  his  sons  Asahel  Bush  and  others;  William  Ashley,  or  "  Uncle  Bill," 
who  lived  on  the  site  of  Deacon  Atkins'  house,  in  the  old  Fort  house ; 
Silas  Root,  (the  father  of  Colonel  Silas  Root,  Major  Joseph  Root,  the 
first  publisher  of  the  "Hampden  Register"  of  John  B.  Root  of  Texas, 
and  the  wife  of  Major  George  Taylor,)  Medad  Fowler,  John  Stiles, 
Azariah  Moseley,  Esq.,  Amos  Fowler,  Shubael  Holcomb,  Samuel  Lind- 
say, Joseph  Bull.  Colonel  Jacob  Noble,  Justus  Fowler,  Simon  Smith, 
Henry  Stiles.  These  persons  were  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the 
street  The  Fowlers,  "Uncle  Black,"  as  he  was  called,  "for  short," 
and  "  Uncle  Amos,"  were  both  tall  men  ;  in  fact,  they  were  exaggera- 
tions, in  size,  of  Charles  and  John,  the  sons  of  Porter  Fowler,  sons  of 
"  Uncle  Black,"  who  are  now  carrying  on  their  farming  operations, 
with  an  industry  and  talent,  which  pertains  to  their  race.  Amos  had 
no  children  ;  a  wonderful  fact,  considering,  that,  in  those  times,  a  large 
family  was  the  rule,  and  even  a  small  one,  was  the  exception  ;  but  he 
worked  with  the  same  industry,  as  if  he  were  providing  for  the  family 
of  Priam  and  Hecuba.  He  was  very 'careful  in  all  the.  details  of  his 
business.  He  was  guilty  of  no  negligence.  All  his  bars  were  put  up  ! 
All  his  doors  shut ;  his  house  swept  and  garnished.  His  extreme  care, 
in  this  respect,  at  times  betrayed  him  into  laughable  mistakes.  It  used 
to  be  related  of  him,  that  his  neighbor  and  friend,  Mr.  Samuel  Root, 
who  lives  on  the  present  Alvin  Fowler  place,  in  the  house  now  re- 
moved to  the  west  side  of  Pleasant  street,  had  arranged  with  hini  for  a 
loan ;  and  that  Mr.  William  King  called  on  Mr.  Fowler,  with  a  deed, 
as  security  for  the  money.  After  reading  the  deed,  he  said,  "  this  deed, 
Mr.  King,  is  all  right,  except  one  thing !  Sister  Root  has  not  released 
her  right  of  dower!"  King,  who  understood  the  case,  proposed  to 


198  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

him,  to  mount  into  his  sulkey,  with  him,  and  ride  up  to  Mr.  Root's,  and 
have  the  deed  signed.  He  accordingly  got  in,  and  King,  sitting  in  his 
tall  lap,  rode  up  to  Mr.  Root's. '  Mr.  Fowler  went  in ;  but  in  a  mo- 
ment, out  he  came,  deed  in  hand,  flapping  his  hands  in  astonishment, 
like  an  animal  of  the  species,  that  upset  the  person  and  equanimity  of 
Captain  Hector  Mclntire,  and  exclaiming,  "Oh,  Mr.  King!  Mr.  King! 
only  think  of  it !  Sister  Root  died  last  week,  and  I  was  one  of  the 
bearers  at  her  funeral ! " 

There  was,  also,  a  story  told,  that  Shubael  Holcomb,  and  Roland 
Noble,  became  enraged  with  him,  and  wished  his  death.  Holcomb  pro- 
posed thus  to  Noble ;  said  he,  "  Roland,  I  am  a  Christian,  and  if  I 
should  kill  him,  I  should  have  to  go  to  hell ;  but,  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll 
do  !  If  you'll  kill  him,  I'll  be  hung  for  you ! " 

Among  the  worthy  inhabitants  of  that  street,  who  have  lived  out  a 
good  old  age,  was  Azariah  Moseley,  Esq.,  the  father  of  Oliver  Moseley, 
George  Moseley,  Miriam,  the  wife  of  our  fellow-citizen,  Franklin  Bliss. 
George  Moseley  removed  to  the  West.  Oliver  has  a  large  family  of 
children  and  grand-children,  and  the  children  of  Miriam  will  probably 
be,  like  the  one  spoken  qf  by  St.  Paul.  He  died  in  the  year  1856,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-six  years.  He  was  a  large  farmer,  honest  and  capa- 
ble ;  a  peace-maker  and  compromiser,  not  an  intermeddler  and  a  stirrer 
up  of  other  men's  quarrels  ;  a  magistrate,  a  frequent  arbitrator ;  a  man 
of  good  sense,  fairness,  and  of  incorruptible  honesty,  whose  aim  of  life 
was,  to  do  his  whole  duty,  to  make  the  world  better,  and  his  fellow-men 
happier.  He  was  frequently  chosen  to  responsible  town  offices,  and 
yet  was  never  a  hankerer  after  office.  But  he  was  not  accustomed,  in 
town-meeting,  to  be  perpetually  reminding  the  town,  that  he  had  been 
selectman,  or  assessor,  or  representative ;  it  was  rather  his  wish,  to 
live  in  his  retirement,  to  attend  to  his  own  concerns,  and  to  leave  to 
others  the  ignoble  task,  of  begging  for  office.  On  one  occasion,  he 
was  chosen  to  some  office, — I  think  it  was  representative  of  the  town 
•. — and  he  declined  it !  One  of  his  neighbors,  who  had  never  been 
thought  of,  arose  and  said,  that  he  hoped  Esquire  Moseley  would 
not  decline ;  that,  to  be  sure,  office  was  a  burden,  but  that  each 
man  was  in  duty  bound  to  perform  his  part  in  the  performance  of 
public  duties ;  let  Esquire  Moseley,  he  continued,  take  the  office  this 
year,  and  I  will  take  it  the  next,  and  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  or  some 
other  man  may  take  it  the  next  year  after !  I  do  not  remember,  that 
the  town  ever  took  the  latter  gentleman  at  his  word,  and  elected 
-  him ! 

Another  prominent  citizen  on  that  street,  was  the  late  Asahel  Bush, 


APPENDIX.  199 

the  father  of  Asahel  Bush,  formerly  editor  of  the  "  Westfield  Stand- 
ard" in  this  town,  who  studied  law  with  the  late  Hon.  P.  Boise,  and 
who  is  now,  and  has  been  for  several  years,  a  prominent  editor  and 
the  publisher  of  the  "Oregon  Statesman." 

Mr.  Bush  was  frequently  called  to  fill  the  various  town  offices,  and 
also  that  of  Representative  to  the  General  Court.  He  caught  a  cold 
at  Boston,  which  settled  upon  his  lungs,  and  which  was  probably  the 
cause  of  his  death. 

Another  prominent  citizen  was  Col.  Lewis  Fowler,  son  of  Justus 
Fowler,  brother  of  Alvin  Fowler.  He  built  the  red  brick  bouse  on 
the  corner  of  Silver  and  South  Maple  streets,  on  the  site  of  the  old 
family  mansion.  He  was  never  married.  He  was  a  farmer,  a  man  of 
reading  and  information,  a  useful  and  faithful  officer  of  the  town,  a 
representative,  and  died  in  the  year  1849  at  the  age  of  fifty-one.  On 
the  corner  opposite,  stood  the  house  of  the  late  Simon  Smith,  who  died 
several  years  since.  He  was  a  most  exemplary  man.  He  raised 
a  large  family  of  children,  one  of  whom,  the  late  Daniel  Smith,  re- 
cently deceased,  in  many  characteristics,  strongly  resembled  his  father. 
Another  'son,  Charles,  is  a  doctor  in  Ohio,  another  still,  Hiram,  is  a 
clergyman,  somewhere  at  the  West,  and  there  is  also  Deacon  Horace, 
who  has  been  residing,  and  is  known  in  West  Springfield  and  Spring- 
field. 

Henry  Stiles  formerly  resided  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  on  this  street. 
He  sold  his  farming  lands,  and  his  house,  and  erected  the  house  at  the 
corner  of  Bates  and  Court  streets.  He  was  a  skilful  farmer.  All  his 
lands  were  well  cultivated,  and  bore  good  crops.  Even  a  lot  of  bis  on 
Poverty  Plain,  was  made  productive  ;  and  corn,  wheat  and  grass  were 
produced  thereon.  Not  such  corn,  as  we  now  see  there,  but  good, 
sound,  thrifty  corn  !  He  carried  on  the  business  of  making  soap  and 
potash,  and  used  the  ashes  as  a  manure.  Speaking  of  Poverty  Plain 
com,  reminds  me  of  the  testimony  of  a  witness  on  this  subject.  He 
had  sworn,  that  the  use  of  a  lot  on  that  plain,  was  worth  nothing,  and 
less  than  nothing.  The  opposing  counsel  asked  him,  in  cross  examina- 
tion,— "You  say,  Mr.  D.,  that  the  use  of  that  land  is  worth  nothing?" 
"I  do."  "Have  not  you  seen  rye  upon  it?"  "I  have."  "Have 
you  not  seen  corn  upon  it?"  "Coarn,  coarn !  I  have;  but  good 
heavens!  what  coarn!  why,  many  a  time,  have  I  seen  toads,  sit- 
ting up  on  their  ends,  and  playing  with  the  tassels  with  their  fore 
paws ! " 

Mr.  Stiles,  in  the  last  years  of  his  life,  became  insane.  He  lived  an 
industrious,  honest  life.  His  insanity  and  death  are  probably  attribut- 


200  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

able  to  his  retirement  from  business,  and  his  removal  from  those  habits 
of  thought,  and  the  neglect  of  the  bodily  exercise,  which  his  nature  re- 
quired as  the  necessary  pabulum  vitce.  He  left  several  children,  one  of 
whom  is  a  resident  of  Texas. 

We  must  not  omit  an  anecdote,  respecting  one  of  the  Deweys,  who 
removed  to  the  Black  River  country,  and  who  was  accustomed  to  come 
down  every  fall  or  winter,  and  spend  the  gloomy  months — gloomy  to 
him  in  Lewis  county — with  his  well-to-do  relations.  After  a  some- 
what prolonged  stay,  he  was  surprised,  one  morning,  to  see  his  host,  in 
the  corner,  crying.  "Why  cousin  Tim,"  said  he,  "  what  ails  you?" 
The  host  replied, — "  You'll  never  come  down  to  see  me  any  more  !  " 
"  0  yes  I  will,  cousin  Tim ;  I'll  surely  come  down  next  fall ! "  "  No  you 
won't!  Something  tells  me  you  won't!"  "Nonsense,"  said  the  vis- 
itor ;  "  why  do  you  think  so  ?  What  has  put  such  a  notion  into  your 
head  ?  Haven't  we  always  come  down,  and  spent  the  winter  with  ye  ? 
Come,  cheer  up,  cousin  Tim  !  cheer  up,  and  tell  me  what  makes  you 
think  so."  The  grieved  host  blew  his  nose,  wiped  his  eyes,  and  turn- 
ing his  solemn  face  to  his  .sympathizing  guest,  said — "  'Cause  you'll 
never  go  away  !  "  The  hint  was  not  given  in  vain. 


No.  14. — In  a  former  number  of  these  pictures,  a  brief  notice  was 
given  of  two  of  the  lawyers  in  Court  street ;  but  it  is  desired  to  pre- 
pare a  connected  sketch  of  the  members  of  the  legal  profession,  who 
have  been  educated,  or  who  have  resided  in  this  town. 

Hon.  John  Ashley,  was  probably  the  first  practitioner  in  the  profes- 
sion here.  He  was  graduated  at  Yale  College,  in  1730,  and  died  in 
1803.  He  was  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
the  father  of  General  John  Ashley,  of  the  Shay's  war  fame,  and  grand- 
father'of  Major  William  Ashley,  of  Sheffield.  Judge  Ashley  was  much 
in  public  life;  removed  to  Sheffield,  as  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that 
town,  and  left  a  high  reputation  for  talent  and  character.  He  was  ad- 
mitted as  an  attorney  in  1732. 

I  find  the  name  of  Josiah  Dwight,  as  an  attorney-at-law  in  this  town, 
about  the  year  1750.  He,  also,  became  a  judge,  and  removed  from 
this  town. 

John  Phelps  was  also  an  attorney  here.  He  lived  on  the  corner  of 
Broad  and  Court  Streets,  in  the  Major  Morgan  place. 

Hon.  Samuel  Fowler  was  the  oldest  attorney,  of  whom  I  have  any 
recollection.  He  was  graduated  in  1768,  at  Yale  College,  and  died  in 
1828.  His  residence  was,  at  first,  in  the  large  square  house,  on  the 


APPENDIX.  201 

corner  of  Main  and  Cross  streets,  nearly  opposite  the  old  meeting-house, 
which  was  burned.  But  he  afterwards  removed  to  the  corner  of  Court 
street.  He  was  not  engaged,  as  I  am  informed,  extensively  in  prac- 
tice ;  but,  when  the  War  of  the  Revolution  came  on,  and  broke  up  the 
judicial  business,  he  retired  from  practice,  and  devoted  himself  to  other 
pursuits,  more  active  and  profitable.  He  was  the  political  leader  of 
the  democratic  party,  in  the  town,  and  one  of  the  most  influential  mem- 
bers of  it,  in  the  County  and  State.  When  the  County  of  Hampshire 
was  divided,  in  1812,  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  Probate,  for  the  new 
County  of  Hampden,  by  the  democratic  legislature,  then  in  power ; 
but  the  appointments  of  the  county  officers,  being  made,  before  the 
county  was,  in  fact,  organized,  it  was  held,  in  proceedings  brought 
before  the  court,  on  a  process  of  quo  warranto,  that  such  appoint- 
ments were  invalid,  and  the  opposition  in  power  the  next  year,  filled 
them  with  men  of  their  own  party.  In  person,  Mr.  Fowler  was,  as  I 
recollect  him,  a  tall,  spare  man,  of  a  benign  face,  with  a  most  gentle- 
manly address,  and  well  qualified  to  assume  the  leadership  of  a  party. 
He  filled  various  legislative  offices  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  died  at  a 
good  old  age.  He  left,  as  children,  Hon.  James  Fowler  and  Mrs.  Fran- 
ces F.  D wight,  widow  of  Hon.  Henry  W.  Dwight,  of  Stockbridge. 

Hon.  Joseph  Lyman,  was  here  as  an  attorney,  soon  after  Mr.  Fowler 
retired.  He  lived  in  the  house,  where  Mr.  James  Noble  now  resides, 
and  his  office  stood  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  upon  the  bank. 
After  Mr.  Lyman  removed  to  Northampton,  the  office  was  removed, 
and  now  forms  the  rear  part  of  a  house  on  Broad  street.  Mr.  Lyman 
was  a  man  of  rare  amiability  of  temper,  of  fine  personal  appearance, 
and  great  suavity  of  manner.  He  was  made  Judge  of  Probate,  for 
the  County  of  Hampshire,  and  subsequently  Sheriff,  an  office  which  he 
filled  with  great  dignity  and  fidelity,  until  near  the  time  of  his  death, 
in  1847.  There  are  many  of  our  readers,  who  may  recollect  him ; 
and,  once  seen,  such  a  person  is  rarely  forgotten.  He  was  a  Repre- 
sentative from  this  town  to  the  General  Court,  before  his  removal  here- 
from. 


No.  15. — We  were  interrupted,  in  the  preparation  of  our  last  num- 
ber, and,  accordingly,  resume  our  sketches  of  the  members  of  the  bar 
in  this  town,  in  the  present  number. 

The  list  of  the  members  of  the  bar,  contains,  also,  the  name  of  Sam- 
uel Mather,  as  a  practitioner.  He  was  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  and  resided  in  the  old  Mather  place,  on  Main  street. 
26 


202  WESTFIELP   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

John  Phelps,  Jr.,  the  son  of  "  old  Squire  Phelps,"  of  whom  I  have 
spoken,  was  also  a  member  of  the  bar.  He  removed  to  West  Gran- 
ville,  when,  after  a  practice  of  many  years,  he  was  appointed  sheriff  of 
the  county,  when  Hampden  County  was  organized. 

John  Ingersoll,  a  native  of  the  town,  descended  from  one  of  the  old 
settlers,  was  graduated  at  Yale,  in  1790,  and  commenced  the  practice 
of  his  profession  here,  where  he  remained  until  the  division  of  the  old 
county,  when  he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  courts — an  office  which 
he  retained  to  his  death  in  1840.  At  the  time  of  his  appointment,  he 
removed  to  Springfield.  He  was,  in  all  respects,  a  most  estimable  man. 
In  figure,  he  was  tall  and  thin,  with  a  mild  blue  eye,  and  hair  prema- 
turely white.  He  was  dressed  with  extreme  neatness  and  precision  ; 
not  rapid  in  his  walk  or  motions,  but  remarkably  grave  and  sedate.  In 
his  business,  he  was  diligent  and  painstaking.  Everything  to  be  done 
by  him,  was  done  decently  and  in  order.  He  was  not  "  a  brawler," 
"a  busybody,"  or  "a  meddler  in  other  men's  matters,"  but  was  rather 
a  peace-maker,  and  "a  compromiser,"  than  a  stirrerup  of  strife. 
After  his  removal  to  Springfield,  he  conducted  the  business  of  his 
office,  with  his  early  regularity.  His  venerable  appearance,  in  the 
clerk's  desk,  seemed  to  impart  a  dignity  to  the  court;  and  the  manner 
in  which  he  administered  the  oath  to  a  witness,  was,  in  itself,  an  adjura- 
tion to  him,  to  be  true  to  his  solemn  obligation.  Indeed,  a  court,  in 
those  days,  was  a  different  place  from  what  it  is  at  present.  The  judges 
were,  generally,  elderly  men,  men  of  large  size,  and  venerable, — even 
majestic  appearance.  The  sheriff,  John  Phelps,  with  his  well  cut  fea- 
tures and  gray  hair,  his  sword  and  staff  of  office ;  his  close  attention  to 
the  preservation  of  order  and  decorum  in  the  court-room ;  his  rigid  ex- 
clusion of  all  persons  from  within  the  bar,  except  the  members,  and 
friends  introduced  by  them  ;  and  his  rising,  threatening  attitude,  when 
any  intrusion,  or  noise  occurred,  to  interrupt  the  decorous  silence,  or  to 
infringe  upon  the  dignity  of  the  court ;  the  well-conditioned,  burly 
crier,  in  his  box,  opposite  to  the  sheriff,  with  his  stentorian  voice,  ring- 
ing out  the  "  0,  yes,"  in  tones  loud  enough  to  awaken  the  sleepers  of 
the  church-yard ;  the  quiet,  orderly,  well-behaved  deputies,  not  roam- 
ing round,  like  unclean  spirits,  but  seated  in  their  boxes,  with  eyes  as 
intent  upon  the  judge,  and  the  progress  of  his  proceedings,  as  were  the 
Tyrians  upon  the  "  pious  Eneas,"  when  he  began  his  narration,  from 
"his  lofty  couch;"  the  substantial,  intelligent,  good-looking  jurors, 
with  eyes  and  ears  open,  and  apparently  listening  for  their  lives;  and 
the  spectators,  either  bestowed  in  the  grand  jury  seats,  or  in  the  seats 
appropriated  for  them,  each  one  watching  the  progress  of  the  case,  with 


APPENDIX.  203 

all  the  earnest  anxiety  to  become  the  master  of  it,  which  formerly  was 
manifested  by  Mr.  Bartoline  Saddletree,  of  Mid-lothian ;  the  grave  and 
reverend  members  of  the  bar,  in  their  dress-coats, — even  a  dress  frock- 
coat  being  a  rare  article,  ventured  upon  only  by  some  young  sprig  of  a 
lawyer,  who  had  not  a  proper  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the  profession, — 
each  one  giving  his  undivided  attention  to  the  cases,  through  all  the 
court  hours  of  the  day ;  and  finally  the  law  students,  who,  at  each 
term  of  the  court,  came  to  the  court-house  to  learn,  and  stayed  in  it, 
day  after  day,  watching  the  progress  of  each  trial,  taking  notes  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  cause,  the  arguments  of  the  counsel  and  the  charges 
of  the  judge  ; — which,  by  the  way,  became  the  subject  of  discussion  on 
the  ensuing  night, — all  these,  combined  to  form  a  scene  of  impressive 
dignity,  in  the  manner  of  judicial  proceedings,  to  which  anything  we 
behold,  in  these  modern  days,  bears  little  comparison.  At  that  time, 
there  was  a  place  for  everybody,  and  everybody  was  in  his  place.  The 
bench  was  the  exclusive  place  for  the  judges ;  except,  that,  on  the  first 
day  of  the  term,  the  presiding  judge,  according  to  custom,  invited  the 
clergyman  to  sit  in  one  of  the  judicial  chairs,  at  the  opening  of  the 
court ;  and,  after  the  prayer,  to  dine  with  the  court  and  bar.  The 
area,  within  the  railing,  was  appropriated  for  the  use  of  the  members 
of  the  bar,  and  no  one  else  was  admitted  to  a  seat  in  it,  unless  on  the 
invitation  of  some  member  of  the  court.  The  members  did  not  find 
themselves  seated,  cheek-by-jowl,  with  horse-thieves,  and  other  crimi- 
nals, or  feel  obliged  to  occupy  vacant  seats  in  the  jurors'  panel,  or  in 
the  boxes  of  the  spectators,  because  their  appropriate  places  were  occu- 
pied by  those,  who  were  attracted  by  idle  curiosity,  or  who  were  placed 
there,  under  constraint,  until  a  decision  should  be  had,  whether  they 
were  to  go  "  without  day,"  or  to  attend  "  the  Sunday-school,  formerly 
kept  by  Esquire  Frederick  Robinson,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Com- 
monwealth." But,  alas,  times  have  changed;  and,  at  least,  in  some 
respects,  without  any  decided  marks  of  improvement.  But,  I  am  wan- 
dering from  the  sketches  of  the  bar,  and  from  Esquire  John  Ingersoll. 


No.  16. — Before  his  removal  from  this  town  to  Springfield,  Mr. 
Ingersoll  resided  in  Court  street,  in  the  house  now  occupied  by  Mrs. 
Ellen  Barr.  There  were,  at  that  time,  two  practicing  lawyers,  Elijah 
Bates,  who  lived  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  to  him,  being  the 
other  of  the  duo.  He  was  the  oldest  child  of  Captain  Nathaniel  Bates 
of  East  Granville,  and  was  born  in  July,  1770,  and  graduated  at  Yale, 
in  1794.  He  studied  law  at  the  Litchfield  law  school,  of  the  late 


204  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Judge  Tappan  Reeve,  author  of  "Reeve's  Domestic  Relations,"  and 
for  a  portion  of  the  time,  he  was  in  the  office  of  the  late  Judge  Lyman. 
As  he  and  Mr.  Ingersoll  were  neighbors,  so  were  they  friends.  So, 
also,  were  their  families.  Indeed,  the  children  mingled  together,  through 
the  whole  period  of  their  early  years,  as  though  they  were  members  of 
one  household  :  and,  after  the  removal  of  Mr.  Ingersoll  to  Springfield, 
his  former  friend  and  neighbor,  Mr.  Bates,  took  up  his  abode  at  his 
residence,  as  a  boarder,  during  court  weeks,  until  he  relinquished  his 
practice  at  the  courts. 

Unfortunately  for  the  professional,  or  pecuniary  success  of  Mr.  Bates, 
"  his  plow  ran  to  land."  He  had  a  great  fondness  for  agricultural  pur- 
suits. He  purchased  a  quantity  of  upland-meadow,  where  now  are 
King  street,  Bates  street,  West  School  street,  and  on  Pine  Hill ;  also 
land  on  the  plain,  in  Granville  and  Montgomery;  and,  "what  was 
worse,  and  most  to  be  deplored,"  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Eighth 
Massachusetts  Turnpike,  extending  from  Westfield  to  Washington. 
This  last  purchase  was  "  an  old  man's  darling."  It  absorbed  his 
thoughts,  and  his  energies.  It  withdrew  him  from  his  profession,  and 
induced  him  to  leave  his  practice  in  the  hands  of  a  partner,  under 
whose  management  he  failed  to  receive  even  the  "  lamb's  share." 

From  the  interest,  which  he  at  first  felt,  in  the  success  of  the  enter- 
prise, it  so  grew  upon  him,  that  he  gave  it  his  personal  supervision  and 
labor ;  and,  in  its  last  days,  he  devoted  his  time  and  money  to  its  re- 
pairs. No  general  officer,  ever  felt  greater  pride,  at  the  head  of  a 
grand  army,  than  did  he,  in  the  lead  of  a  body  of  men,  in  the  rebuild- 
ing and  repair  of  the  walls  and  the  wastes  of  the  Eighth  Massachusetts 
Turnpike.  He  did  his  work  well.  Rocks  were  removed,  stones  were 
thrown  from  the  road,  gullies  were  filled,  and,  in  short,  expenditures 
were  made  upon  it,  beyond  any  reasonable  prospect  of  remuneration. 
At  bis  own  expense,  he  procured,  and  set  up  mile-stones,  from  Spring- 
field Court-house  to  Chester  Factories,  measuring  the  road  for  that  pur- 
pose ;  and  he  also  opened  a  new  road  from  the  "three-mile-stone," 
on  the  West  Plain,  to  the  old  river-road,  at  the  Charles  Sackett  place, 
now  called  "  Madagascar."  The  "three-mile-stone,"  deserves  a  passing 
notice.  Some  ill-disposed  persons,  had  from  time  to  time,  with  a  van- 
dal spirit,  broken  down  several  of  these  cheering  marks  of  the  traveler's 
journey ;  and,  among  them,  this  stone,  at  the  fork  of  the  road,  leading 
to  the  turnpike. 

The  doctrine  of  "  total  depravity"  was,  in  those  days,  one  of  the 
themes,  which  was  very  frequently  enforced  from  the  pulpit,  and  it  was 
one,  which  he  did  not  give  unto  a  cheerful  assent.  But,  when  he  saw 


APPENDIX.  205 

hia  mile-stones  broken  down  ;  when  he  was  made  to  know,  that  those 
useful,  harmless  friends  of  the  wayfarer  in  an  unknown  country,  were 
ruthlessly  removed,  by  beings,  who  claimed  to  be  but  "  little  lower  than 
the  angels,"  he  gave  up  his  opposition,  and  assented  to  the  doctrine, — 
in  some  particular  instances, — to  its  fullest  extent.  "I'll  give,"  said 
he,  "  total  depravity,  one  stint ; "  and,  accordingly,  at  the  approach  of 
the  close  of  a  day's  work  on  the  road,  he  repaired,  with  a  strong  team, 
and  a  number  of  hands,  to  that  "stone-quarry,"  which  was  obtained 
by  our  ancestors,  two  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  New  Addition,  and 
there  procured  the  "three-mile-stone,"  a  load  for  two  yoke  of  cattle; 
and,  having  dug  a  hole,  it  was  duly  planted,  and  stoned,  only  a  small 
portion  thereof,  appearing  above  the  surface  of  the  surrounding  earth. 

Another  of  his  pets,  was  Pine  hill.  It,  formerly,  was  not  the  broad 
and  gradual  assent,  it  is  at  present ;  but  was  a  steep,  abrupt  acclivity, 
on  the  curve  of  the  hill,  very  narrow,  and,  from  the  south  side  of  which, 
the  bank  descended,  almost  perpendicularly,  to  the  bushy  swamp  at  the 
bottom.  This  was  the  scene  of  Mr.  Bates'  play-spells.  Here,  with 
his  men  and  teams,  his  plows  and  scrapers,  he  labored  to  reduce  the 
grade,  and  to  widen  the  hill,  until  it  was  a  complete  transformation  from 
its  former  appearance. 

Mr.  Bates  continued  his  connection  with  the  legal  profession,  during 
the  winter  seasons,  and  when  not  at  work  on  his  farm,  until  1825,  at 
which  time,  his  son  entered  his  office,  as  a  student,  to  obtain  his  educa- 
tion from  the  "genius  loci."  He  then  gave  himself  up  to  out-door 
pursuits,  and  died  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  in  1850. 

In  speaking  of  Pine  hill,  I  am  reminded  of  an  incident.  A  small 
boy  had  a  small  sled,  with  which  he  was  accustomed  to  coast  on  that 
steep  hill.  The  "help,"  in  Mr.  Bates'  family,  consisted  of  a  short, 
fat,  dumpy  woman,  named  Bet,  and  a  smaller  girl.  They  importuned 
the  boy,  to  give  them  a  ride,  which  he  did, — the  girl  and  Bet  being 
loaded  on  the  sled,  and  he  mounted,  as  steersman.  After  a  number 
of  rides,  Bet  desired  to  go  down  alone,  soliciting  instruction  from  the 
boy,  for  the  guidance  of  the  sled.  The  hill  inclined  somewhat  towards 
the  edge ;  and  in  giving  his  directions,  he  mistook,  in  telling  her  which 
foot  to  put  down.  It  therefore  so  happened,  that,  when  the  sled,  with  its 
cargo,  was  in  full  career,  and  tending  toward  the  precipitous  edge, 
Bet  put  down  the  wrong  foot,  and,  in  an  instant,  they  darted  like  a  cat- 
apult, through  the  brush-fence,  on  the  hill-side,  into  the  brush  below. 
It  is,  perhaps,  needless  to  remark,  that,  about  that  time,  the  boy  left 
suddenly  for  home,  But  behind  him,  "  breathing  out  threatenings  and 
slaughter." 


206  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

No.  17. — In  the  town  of  Westfield,  at  the  time  of  my  early  recollec- 
tions, there  was  a  large  number  of  persons,  each  one  of  which  was 
quite  a  peculiar  character.  Some  were  lawyers,  some  merchants,  the 
greater  part  of  them  men  of  leisure,  all  of  them  little  disposed  for  "  ser- 
vile labor  "  on  week-days  ;  and,  being  men  of  social  and  convivial  habits, 
brought  together  by  the  relations  of  consanguinity,  they  were  naturally 
inclined  to  indulge  in  those  pleasures,  which  spring  up  from  such  asso- 
ciations. Many  of  them,  too,  were  not  in  active  business ;  or,  if  so 
interested,  they  were  inclined  to  trust  the  care  of  it  to  their  clerks  and 
agents.  Fishing  excursions  to  Hazard's,  Hampton,  Congamuck,  or 
Otis  ponds  were  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  the  parties  were  composed 
of  many  of  the  first  citizens.  In  the  winter  season,  the  inhabitants 
were  eminently  social ;  and  entertainments  were  given  by  individuals 
at  their  dwellings,  commencing  at  early  candle-light,  and  continuing 
until  after  the  nine  o'clock  curfew  summoned  the  Rev.  Mr.  Knapp,  and 
the  more  sedate  part  of  the  company,  to  their  homes.  These  symposia 
were  numerously  attended ;  and,  as  the  doctrine  of  reciprocity  was  rig- 
idly adhered  to,  the  winter,  as  may  be  imagined,  passed  away  in  a  round 
of  social  pleasures.  These  social  pleasures  were  participated  in,  of 
course,  by  the  wives,  and  sometimes  by  other  member  of  the  families ; 
but  the  men  to  whom  I  have  referred,  used  to  collect  in  a  small  build- 
ing, erected  over  the  well,  on  the  north  side  of  the  green,  and  there, 
protected  as  well  by  its  roof  as  by  the  shade  of  a  wide-spreading  elm, 
which  stood  near  to  it,  to  discuss  political  questions  and  business  transac- 
tions, relate  anecdotes,  and  indulge  in  that  social  converse,  which  is  apt 
to  increase  by  its  indulgence.  The  place  was  adjacent  to  the  tavern, 
which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  Woronoco  House,  and  also  the 
quiet  well-kept  hotel  of  Gad  Palmer,  where  now  is  the  Second  Congre- 
gational Church ;  and  it  was  convenient  for  the  members,  of  what  was 
called  "the  lazy  company,"  to  repair  to  either  public  house  to  partake 
of  Santa  Croix  punch  in  summer,  or  that  other  favorite  drink,  at  those 
seasons  of  the  year,  which  admitted  of  the  attempering  flip-iron. 

It  should  not  be  understood,  that  though  those  convivial  habits 
prevailed  in  those  days,  there  was  not  also  a  manliness  of  character 
in  the  community.  The  town  was  of  that  size,  where  what  every 
one  did,  was  very  generally  known  to  the  public.  The  conduct  of 
individuals  was  exposed  to  the  public  eye,  and  an  act  of  meanness 
or  dishonesty  was  promptly  visited  by  public  reprobation.  It  re- 
quired a  bold  man  to  be  a  rogue ;  for  detection  at  once  brought  its 
punishment. 

In  one  respect,  there  has  been  a  sad  departure  from  the  practices  of 


APPENDIX.  207 

our  ancestors.  I  allude  to  their  love  for,  and  indulgence  in  athletic  ex- 
ercises. Wrestling^  running,  leaping,  games  of  ball, —  foot-ball,  wicket 
and  base-ball, — were  of  constant  occurrence ;  and,  in  this  training,  were 
formed  those  strong  constitutions,  which  have  enabled  the  men,  thus 
reared,  to  perform  the  severe  bodily  and  intellectual  labor  from  which 
so  many  other  men  shrink. 

The  days  of  militia  training,  were,  de  facto,  public  holidays.  The 
members  of  enrolled  companies,  came  of  course.  There  were  the  ar- 
tillery company,  with  their  scarlet  uniforms,  their  cocked  hats  and  tower- 
ing feathers;  "the  troup,"  as  the  cavalry-company  was  called ;  the  com- 
panies of  infantry  ;  and  when  the  "general  training,"  as  the  boys  called 
it,  was  had,  a  grand  collection  from  far  and  near,  not  only  of  troops  and 
officers,  but  of  oyster-carts,  tymbesteres,  and  all  the  other  accompani- 
ments which  are  now  only  convened  upon  the  arrival  of  a  few  negro- 
minstrels,  or  monkeys,  or  a  circus.  When  the  training  was  over,  a  ring 
was  formed,  and  the  wrestling  commenced.  The  defeated  contestant 
"brought  in  his  man;"  that  is,  he  selected  some  one,  to  contest  with 
the  victor.  So  it  went  on,  one  after  another  engaging,  until  a  late  hour 
put  a  period  to  the  amicable  strife.  It  may  seem  strange  to  the  people 
of  the  present  day,  that  such  exercises  were  fashionable.  No  one  felt 
it  a  disgrace,  or  that  he  lost  his  dignity  in  such  an  encounter.  On  the1 
contrary,  an  expert,  skillful  wrestler,  whether  boy  or  man,  who  showed, 
by  his  movements,  that  he  had  improved  himself  in  the  powers  of  that 
body,  which  was  given  him,  to  be  the  house  of  a  sound  mind,  was  re- 
garded as  one,  who  had  done  something,  not  only  for  himself,  but  as  an 
example  to  others. 

The  effect  of  these  exercises  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  was, 
and  is  now  apparent,  in  the  size  and  appearance  of  the  men  who  lived 
in  those  days,  and  is  shown  in  their  several  ages.  A  few  years  ago,  at 
a  hearing  before  a  legislative  committee,  a  dozen  or  more  of  our  citizens 
were  present,  each  one  of  whom,  in  weight,  exceeded  200  pounds. 
And  about  the  same  time,  there  were  living  on  one  side  of  one  of  our 
streets  seven  men,  over  threescore  years  and  ten ;  and,  on  the  other 
side  of  it,  a  like  number,  each  weighing  over  200  pounds,  and  each 
one  measuring  over  six  feet  in  height. 


WESTFIELD  AS  IT  IS. 

A  statement  of  the  business,  religious,  and  educational  condition  of 
Westfield  in  1869,  prepared  by  Hon.  T.  Kneil,  for  the  box  in  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  Masonic  building  on  Elm  street,  laid  June  24th  of 
that  year. 


208  WESTF1ELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 


TOWN   OFFICERS. 

Selectmen. — Henry  B.  Lewis,  John  Fowler,  Charles  H.  Bush. 

Clerk.— William  H.  Foote. 

Treasurer. — James  H.  Morse. 

School  Committee. — Dr.  Millard  L.  Robinson,  Rev.  Henry  Hopkins, 
Rev.  John  Jennings,  Hon.  Henry  Fuller,  Joseph  G.  Scott,  A.  M., 
Homer  B.  Stevens,  Esq. 

Judicial  Officers. — Henry  B.  Lewis,  Esq.,  Samuel  Fowler,  trial 
justices. 

Engineers  of  Fire  Department. — C.  K.  Lambson,  Reuben  Noble, 
Joseph  S.  Clark,  B.  F.  Town  and  George  D.  Smith. 

We  have  excellent  facilities  for  extinguishing  fires.  The  canal  which 
drives  a  factory  in  the  centre  of  the  village,  furnishes  an  abundance  of 
water  in  its  course  in  case  of  fires.  There  are  also  smaller  streams  and 
two  or  more  reservoirs.  There  are  two  fire  engines  and  two  companies 
to  work  them  in  healthy  existence.  The  foreman  of  "Rough  and 
Ready  Fire  Company  "  is  William  G.  Lay,  and  E.  W.  Dickerman  is 
foreman  of  the  "  Bay  State  Company." 


APPROPRIATIONS. 

Appropriations  by  the  town  for  the  year  1869  : 
Towards  purchase  of  Town  Clock,  .         •.          $400  00 

Police,      . 1,500  00 -$1,900  00 

Schools,  viz :  Teachers  and  fuel,  .  .  13,350  00 
Contingent  for  Schools,  .  .  .  500  00 

Painting  school-houses,    ....         1,500  00 

Re-seating  High  School 800  00 

General  repairs  and  sinking  wells,    .         .  500  00 

Evening  School .100  00-$16,750  00 

Interest  on  Town  Debt,  ....  7,600  00 
Discount  on  taxes,  .....  2,100  00 
Highways  and  Town  teams,  .  .  .  3,500  00 

Bridges  and  railings, 1,000  00 

Contingent  expenses,       ....         1,500  00 

Fire  department, 700  00 

School  committee,  ....  500  00 

Selectmen,  .  .       625  00 


Amount  carried  forward,  $17,525  00  $18,650  00 


APPENDIX.  209 

Amount  brought  forward,  $17,525  00-$18,650  00 

Assessors, 340  00 

Town  Farm  and  Poor 3,000  00 

Treasurer  and  Collector,          .         .         .  200  00 

Sidewalks,          ....'..  1,500  00 

Gas  Bills 500  00 

Printing 350  00 

Hardening  roads, 1,500  00 

Town  debt 5,000  00 

Fencing  new  road,          ....  65  00 

Hose, 600  00 

Altering  Clay  Hill  road,          .         .         .  400  00 

Culverts  for  drainage,          ....  1,500  00-S32.480  00 


$51,130  00 

State  tax, 8,800  09 

County  tax,        ......    3,553  09 -$12,353  09 


$63,683  09 


VALUATION. 

The  valuation  of  the  property  of  the  town  in  the  year  ending  May 
1,  1868,  was  $4,360,595,  and  we  may  safely  add  for  increase  for 
this  year,  $300,000,  making  a  present  valuation  of  $4,660,595,  in 
addition  to  the  shares  held  in  manufacturing  corporations,  which  are 
taxed  directly  by  the  State. 

The  assessors'  returns  for  May  1,  1868,  show  1,774  taxable  polls; 
1,012  dwelling  houses;  649  horses;  743  cows,  and  209  sheep.  The 
rate  of  tax  for  that  year,  was  1.05  per  cent.  The  population  of  the 
town  in  1865,  when  the  last  census  was  taken,  was  5,634,  and  probably 
it  is  now  not  far  from  6,300. 


AGRICULTURAL. 

By  the  statistical  returns  of  1865,  it  appears  there  were  prepared 
for  market  in  the  year  previous,  5,125  cords  of  fire-wood  and  bark; 
895, 000- feet  of  lumber;  475,000  shingles,  and  other  kinds  of  lumber 
to  the  value  of  $22,200.  We  have  225  farms,  containing  20,799  acres 
of  land,  of  which  12,997  were  improved;  unimproved,  3,143;  unim- 
provable, 1,001,  and  3,930  acres  of  woodland.  By  the  assessors'  re- 
turns of  1868,  there  were  in  the  town  25,107  acres.  There  were 
grown  in  the  town  during  the  year  ending  May  1,  1865,  the  latest 
return  we  have,  16,277  bushels  of  Indian  corn  ;  105  bushels  of  wheat ; 
27 


210  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

9,471  bushels  of  rye;  1,452  bushels  of  buckwheat;  3,031  bushels  of 
oats,  and  of  other  kinds  of  grain,  10  bushels.  There  were  raised, 
17,256  bushels  of  potatoes;  3,325  bushels  of  turnips,  as  a  field  crop, 
and  125  bushels  of  carrots.  There  were  cut  2,241  tons  of  English 
hay,  and  of  wet  meadow,  or  swale  hay,  495  tons;  and  391,205  pounds 
of  tobacco.  Of  other  farm  products,  we  have  not  space  nor  time  to 
speak  particularly,  but  we  have  them  in  great  variety. 


MISCELLANEOUS  BUSINESS. 

The  leading  manufacture  of  Westfield  is  whips.  Of  these,  probably 
from  $800,000  to  $1,000,000  in  value  are  manufactured  annually. 
The  number  of  persons  employed  as  near  as  we  can  judge,  is  about 
600,  male  and  female.  There  were  28  different  establishments  returned 
in  1865,  and  probably  this  is  not  far  from  the  number  in  the  present 
year. 

Standing  at  the  head  of  this  branch  of  industry,  is  the  American 
Whip  Company,  a  copartnership  with  a  capital  of  $204,000,  and  com- 
posed of  eight  members,  viz. :  Henry  J.  Bush,  Reuben  Noble,  Alonzo 
Van  Deusen,  Mark  R.  Van  Deusen,  Liveras  Hall,  E.  S.  Phinney,  Wil- 
liam 0.  Fletcher  and  Isaac  Van  Deusen.  They  employ  about  250 
persons  in  the  various  branches  of  whip-making,  and  their  production 
at  the  time  their  brick  factory  on  Main  street  was  burned,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  7th  of  May,  was  at  the  rate  of  from  $300,000  to  $400,000 
annually.  They  are  now  engaged  vigorously  in  erecting  a  structure  on 
the  old  site,  40  feet  wide,  165  feet  long,  and  four  stories  high.  The 
building  burned,  was  40  feet  wide,  120  long,  and  three  stories  high. 
They  have  a  depository  for  sales  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  other  establishments,  though  smaller,  are  enterprising,  thrifty 
and  industrious. 

There  are  several  establishments  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
cigars.  By  the  statistical  returns  made  to  the  State  in  1865,  it  ap- 
pears there  were  167  males,  and  64  females  employed.  At  present 
the  number  is  probably  somewhat  less.  The  value  of  the  total  produc- 
tion that  year  was  $303,750. 

There  are  three  establishments  doing  a  somewhat  extensive  business 
in  buying,  packing,  and  selling  seed-leaf  tobacco,  the  growth  of  this 
and  adjoining  States.  Several  cigar  manufacturers  also  pack  and  cure 
what  seed  tobacco  they  need  for  their  own  use. 

There  are  two  large  church  organ  manufactories  in  the  place.  One 
(William  A.  Johnson's)  employing  about  60  persons,  the  other  (Steer 


APPENDIX.  211 

&  Turner's)  employing  25,  all  men.  One  large  establishment  (Stimp- 
son  &  Co's)  manufactures  detached  parts  of  piano-fortes,  and  deals 
extensively  in  the  same ;  three  paper-mills,  two  foundries,  one  making 
a  specialty  of  making  "  steam-heaters,"  the  other  manufactures  the 
"  Bodine  Jonval  Turbine  Water-wheel;"  four  lumber-yards,  one  plan- 
ing mill ;  seven  saw-mills,  and  two  machine-shops ;  two  flouring-mills  ; 
one  sash  and  blind  factory ;  two  brickyards,  one  hoop  skirt  factory,  five 
establishments  for  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  boots  and  shoes ;  two 
daguerrean  and  photograph  galleries ;  two  printing-offices,  each  issuing 
a  weekly  newspaper;  the  News  Letter,  established  in  1840,  and  now 
published  by  P.  L.  Buell,  and  the  Western  Hampden  Times,  published 
by  Clark  &  Story,  the  first  number  of  which  was  issued  March  17th, 
of  the  present  year.  We  have  besides,  saddle  and  harness-makers, 
carriage-makers  and  wheelwrights,  blacksmiths,  etc. ;  and  three  coal  and 
wood-yards,  two  powder-mills,  one  cigar  box  manufactory,  one  gin  dis- 
tillery, which  uses  45  bushels  of  corn,  and  makes  about  140  gallons  of 
gin  daily,  paying  an  excise  tax  to  the  general  government  of  nearly 
$22,000  a  year ;  also  one  cider  brandy  distillery,  which  does  a  less 
business,  and  four  livery  stables ;  there  are  four  confectionery,  fruit  and 
toy  stores ;  there  are  seven  dry  goods  stores,  four  clothing,  three  milli- 
nery ;  nine  where  groceries  and  provisions  are  kept  for  sale,  three 
apothecaries — one  of  whom,  (J.  W.  Colton),  manufactures  "  Flavoring 
Extracts,"  which  have  a  wide  and  pleasant  reputation  ;  markets  where 
the  inhabitants  are  amply  supplied  with  the  best  animal  food  which  the 
stall  and  field^  can  produce,  besides  "flying  fowl,"  and  fishes,  from 
ocean,  lake  and  stream ;  three  excellent  hotels  which  provide  bounti- 
fully for  the  stomach  and  delicately  for  the  palate ;  one  extensive  hard- 
ware and  iron  store  ;  three  stove  and  tin  stores,  one  bakery  and  one  cab- 
inet warehouse  and  undertaking  establishment ;  we  have  five  law  offices, 
two  dentistries,  one  bookstore,  seven  physicians  —  allopathic,  homo- 
pathic  and  eclectic,  skillful,  faithful  and  diligent,  who  look  tenderly  and 
carefully  after  the  health,  not  only  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  own  town, 
but  also  of  the  towns  adjoining.  Of  builders,  joiners,  carpenters  and 
masons,  we  know  not  the  number,  but  we  have  none  too  many  for  our 
wants,  as  we  keep  them  all  employed,  and  wish  we  had  more ;  so  of 
painters,  glaziers  and  paper-hangers. 

There  are  other  pursuits  to  which  we  have  not  space  to  allude, 
some  according  to  law  and  good  conscience,  others  not ;  some  above 
ground,  others  below ;  but  the  town  rejoices  in  an  efficient  salaried 
police,  who  preserve  admirable  order  and  good  conduct  among  those 
needing  their  services.  The  town  is  also  well  supplied  with  illumi- 


212  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

Dating  gas,  of  excellent  quality,  .but  at  prices  not  pleasant  to  all 
consumers. 

The  excise  revenue  is  «ared  for  by  four  faithful  officers,  and  the 
general  government  rejoices  in  an  annual  income  therefrom  of  over 
$90,000. 

We  have  one  telegraph  office,  and  two  express  companies.  One  of 
the  express  companies  has  but  recently  commenced  business,  the  other, 
"American  Merchants  Union,"  did  a  business  in  the  year  1868  of 
#15,000,  and  employs  constantly  three  men  and  two  horses,  and  ships 
goods  and  parcels  by  twelve  trains  of  cars  daily,  whereas  in  1864,  five 
years  ago,  the  yearly  receipts  were  only  $6,000,  and  the  number  of 
daily  trains  only  four,  and  seven  years  ago  the  whole  business  was  done 
in  a  "  carpet-bag." 


POST-OFFICE. 

There  are  seven  mails  received  daily  and  eight  sent  away,  also  one 
additional  mail  received  and  sent  three  times  a  week.  The  number  of 
letters  received  during  the  last  week  of  last  quarter  was  3,515,  and 
the  number  sent  away  about  4,200.  There  are  846  boxes  in  the 
office,  of  which  750  are  rented.  The  cash  receipts  for  the  quarter 
ending  March  31,  were  $1,938.46.  Expenses  during  the  same  time, 
$974.45,  leaving  as  the  profits  of  the  office  for  the  quarter,  $964.01. 


RAILROADS. 

On  the  New  Haven  and  Northampton  Railroad,  there  were  received 
at  the  station  in  this  town  16,515,488  pounds  of  freight,  which  paid 
the  company  $28,278.20,  and  there  were  forwarded  from  this  place  by 
this  road,  during  the  same  period,  18,244,010  pounds  which  paid  the 
company  $60,219.68.  The  number  of  tickets  sold  to  passengers  dur- 
ing the  same  period,  was  7,870,  for  $8,400,  making  a  total  of  cash 
received  and  charges  made  on  the  business  furnished  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  town  of  $96,897.80. 

Our  station  agent  of  the  Boston  and  Albany  railroad  sold  during  the 
year  ending  June  1,  1869,  110,801  passenger  tickets,  and  received 
therefor,  $36,682.00.  In  addition  to  this,  many  persons  passed  over 
the  road  from  town,  on  commutation  tickets,  which  are  purchased  at 
head-quarters.  There  were  forwarded  during  the  same  time  10,055 
tons  of  freight,  on  which  charges  were  paid,  amounting  to  $24,800.50, 
and  21,059  tons  of  freight  were  received,  on  which,  $57,522.00  were 


APPENDIX.  213 

paid,  making  a  grand  total  of  cash  receipts  and  charges  on  the  business 
furnished  by  our  inhabitants  to  this  road  of  §119,009.00,  and  on  both 
roads  of  $215,906.80.  

BANKS. 

We  have  two  incorporated  National  Banks,  as  follows :  The  First 
National,  with  a  capital  of  $250,000.  This  bank  was  organized  in 
December,  1864,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000.  In  September,  1865,  it 
was  merged  with  the  Westfield  Bank,  (a  State  institution  organized  in 
1851),  having  a  capital  of  $150,000,  making  the  combined  capital 
$250,000.  Its  officers  are  Hon.  William  G.  Bates,  President ;  Charles 
A.  Jessup,  Esq.,  Vice  President;  Henry  Hooker,  Esq.,  Cashier;  Di- 
rectors, William  G.  Bates,  Charles  A.  Jessup,  Caleb  Alden,  Cutler 
Laflin,  Henry  J.  Bush,  Charles  I.  Snow,  Milton  B.  Whitney,  George 
L.  Laflin,  Charles  Fowler. 

The  Hampden  National  Bank  was  organized  as  a  State  institution  in 
1825,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  which  was  increased  to  $150,000 
in  1851 ;  became  a  National  Bank  in  1865.  Its  officers  are  Hon.  Ed- 
ward B.  Gillett,  President;  R.  Weller,  Esq.,  Cashier;  James  Noble, 
Jr.,  and  Alfred  D.  Lamberton,  Clerks;  Directors,  Edward  B.  Gillett, 
Edwin  Smith,  Alvin  Fowler,  Samuel  Fowler,  Reuben  Noble,  James  P. 
Cooley  of  Granville,  W.  0.  Fletcher,  and  Royal  Weller.  Hon.  James 
Fowler  and  Thomas  Ashley,  Esq.,  two  of  our  oldest  citizens,  were  stock- 
holders when  the  bank  was  first  organized,  and  are  still.  Besides  these, 
there  are  two  private  banking  houses.  Leonard  &  Lyman,  two  young 
men,  formerly  in  the  Hampden  National  Bank,  are  now  doing  an  ex- 
tensive and  successful  banking  business  on  their  own  account,  besides 
acting  as  real  estate  and  insurance  agents  and  brokers ;  also  Fletcher 
&  Norton,  who  have  done  a  large  and  prosperous  business  as  bankers, 
for  several  years.  There  is  also  a  savings  bank,  which  was  organized 
in  1853,  the  first  deposit,  ($50,)  being  made  July  1st,  of  that  year. 
There  are  now  due  the  depositors,  (who  number  1,460,)  $347,441.95. 
We  enclose  herewith  a  full  statement  of  its  conditions  up  to  June  19, 
three  o'clock,  p.  M.  

LIABILITIES. 

Due  Depositors, $347,441  95 

Surplus, .     '    .  1,261  21 

Interest, 14  37 

Collateral, 485  00 

$349,202  53 


214  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 


RESOURCES. 

Investment  in  First  National  Bank  Stock,  (Wcstfield),  .  $5,800  00 
Investment  in  Hampden  Bank  Stock,  (Westfield),  .  .  200  00 
Investment  in  Hampshire  Co.  Stock,  (Northern),  .  .  3,000  00 
Investment  in  U.  S.  5-20s,  1862,  .  .  .  .  18,00000 

Investment  in  U.  S.  5-20s,  1865,  .  .  '  .  .  33,500  00 
Investment  in  U.  S.  5-20s,  1867,  .  .  .  .85,20000 
Investment  in  Sixes  of  1881,  .  .  .  .  .  8,500  00 

Loans  on  Public  Funds, 33,210  00 

Loans  on  Bank  Stock, 11,00000 

Loans  on  Real  Estate, 72,360  00 

Loans  on  Personal  Security 60,326  00 

Profit  and  Loss  account,          $2,055  16 )  ,  07f.  no 

_^  /•  .  .  .  A,6tO     \J£l 

Expense  account,  219  86) 

Tax  account,        .         .         .         .  .  V    1,145  68 

Cash  on  hand,    .  8,686  83 


$349,202  53 

INSURANCE. 

The  "Westfield  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company"  was  incorporated 
March  30,  1852,  and  commenced  business  November  1,  1852.  Its 
officers  are  as  follows:  Hon.  Edward  B.  Gillett,  President;  William 
H.  Foote,  Treasurer  and  Secretary;  Edward  B.  Gillett,  Lorenzo  R. 
Norton,  Henry  Loomis,  Samuel  Horton,  Dennis  Hedges,  William 
Provin,  Edwin  Smith,  James  H.  Waterman,  and  W.  H.  Foote, 
Directors.  The  amount  of  risks  outstanding  at  the  end  of  last  year, 
was  $607,888.00.  The  amount  of  loss  paid,  $400.00.  Its  gross 
assets,  $8,165.65.  In  addition  to  this,  26  different  fire  insurance 
companies  have  regular  agents  who  do  business  in  the  town.  A  large 
amount  of  property  is  also  insured  in  the  "  Springfield  Mutual  Assur- 
ance Company."  An  extensive  business  in  life  insurance  is  also  done, 
but  we  have  not  the  statistics  at  hand.  Asa  P.  Rand,  Esq.,  is  agent 
for  nine  different  fire  insurance  companies,  and  insures  annually,  about 
$750,000  worth  of  property.  He  is  also  agent  for  the  "  Connecticut 
Mutual  Life,"  in  which  persons  are  insured  in  town,  according  to  the 
last  annual  statement,  to  the  amount  of  $250,000. 


CHURCHES. 

The  morals  and  piety  of  the  citizens  are  cared  for  by  the  following 
Christian  churches :  The  First,  Orthodox  Congregational,  composed  of 


APPENDIX.  215 

•* 

368  members,  including  those  now  propounded.  Rev.  Elias  Hunting- 
ton  Richardson,  Pastor ;  Anson  G.  Chadwick,  Amos  Halladay,  Henry 
B.  Smith  and  John  R.  Reed,  Deacons ;  Edward  B.  Gillett,  Norman  T. 
Leonard,  Albert  Baker,  M.  Searle,  Hiram  Owen,  B.  W.  Knowles, 
Franklin  Leonard,  Church  Committee ;  E.  M.  Goodrich,  Sunday- 
school  Superintendent ;  M.  Searle,  Assistant  Superintendent ;  Mrs.  E. 
Goodrich,  2d  Assistant.  The  average  attendance  of  scholars,  226. 
The  salary  of  pastor,  $2,000. 

The  Second,  Orthodox  Congregational  Church,  was  organized  May 
22,  1856.  Its  present  pastor,  Rev.  Henry  Hopkins.  We  enclose 
herewith  a  copy  of  the  "confession  of  faith,"  etc.,  with  a  history  of  its 
organization  and  present  officers.  Their  present  church  edifice  was 
erected  in  1860  and  '61 ;  dedicated  February  28,  1861.  Cost,  in- 
cluding site,  chapel,  organ,  and  furnishing,  $26,711.27.  Present 
membership,  241.  Pastor's  salary,  $2,000.  The  statistics  of  the 
Sunday-school  are :  Officers  for  the  present  year,  Edwin  B.  Smith, 
Superintendent;  Mrs.  A.,  G.  Dickinson,  Assistant  Superintendent; 
Dwight  W.  Stowell,  Secretary  and  Treasurer;  S.  S.  Conner,  Librarian  ; 
George  H.  Spencer  and  Fred  H.  Treat,  Assistants.  The  membership 
of  school,  April  1,  1869,  was  6  officers,  31  teachers,  and  286  scholars. 

The  First  Methodist  Episcopal,  has  a  membership  of  357,  with  50 
probationers.  Their  church  edifice  was  erected  in  1842  and  '43 ;  dedi- 
cated, March,  1848  ;  present  estimated  value,  $30,000  ;  the  Rev.  John 
H.  Mansfield,  Pastor ;  salary,  $2,000.  The  society  has  recently  pur- 
chased a  pastor's  residence,  at  a  cost  of  $4,500.  The  officers  are : 
Thomas  Kneil,  Seth  Cowles,  Asa  P.  Rand,  Joseph  M.  Ely,  Henry  J. 
Bush,  George  Green,  Benjamin  F.  Lewis,  Trustees ;  John  H.  Dudley, 
Lemuel  Grant,  William  Phelps,  E.  Ralph  Lay,  Lucius  B.  Walkley, 
David  Lamberton,  William  Sibley,  Horace  W.  Avery,  Stewards.  The 
Sunday-school  has  a  membership  of  372 ;  Derrick  N.  GofF,  Superin- 
tendent, assisted  by  10  officers  and  41  teachers;  631  volumes  in  the 
library.  The  average  attendance  for  the  quarter  ending  April  1,  of 
current  year,  249. 

West  Parish  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  contains  a  membership  of 
31,  and  3  probationers.  Pastor,  Rev.  S.  0.  Brown;  salary,  $500. 
The  Sunday-school  has  8  teachers,  and  60  scholars.  The  society 
erected  during  the  year  1868,  a  new  church  edifice,  at  a  cost  of  $3,500, 
and  have  a  pastor's  residence  valued  at  $1,000. 

The  Central  Baptist  Church,  has  a  membership  of  184.  The  Rev. 
John  Jennings,  has  been  pastor  of  this  church  for  the  past  seven  years, 
but  has  recently  resigned.  The  church  is  now  without  a  pastor.  Dur- 


216  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

ing  1868,  it  erected  a  new  church  edifice,  at  a  value  of  $43,500,  which 
was  dedicated  August  12,  1868.  The  officers  are  :  Josiah  S.  Knowles 
and  Newell  Cowles,  Deacons ;  L.  B.  Blood,  James  11.  Gladwin,  Lang- 
don  C.  Kellogg  and  A.  Judson  Bradley,  Prudential  Committee  ;  Dea- 
con J.  S.  Knowles,  Church  Clerk.  The  Sunday-school  has  a  member- 
ship of  150;  average  attendance,  120;  16  classes;  22  officers  and 
teachers ;  503  volumes  in  the  library ;  Abner  E.  Gibbs,  Superintend- 
ent, and  M.  P.  Breckenridge,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

There  is  an  organized  Universalist  Society,  now  without  a  pastor,  and 
stated  meetings.  It  holds  a  valuable  site  for  a  church  edifice,  on  which 
a  chapel  now  stands,  which  is  occupied  by  the  Second  Adveutists.  The 
officers  of  the  society  are  Henry  Loomis,  Reuben  Loomis  and  Timothy 
H.  Loomis. 

The  Second  Adventists  have  an  organized  church  of  34  members ; 
Pastor,  Rev.  Eleazer  Owen.  It  has  a  Sunday-school,  the  statistics  of 
which  we  have  not  been  able  to  procure. 

St.  Mary's  Catholic  Church,  Rev.  D.  Meiglionico,  pastor  of  parish  ; 
Right  Rev.  J.  J.  Williams  of  Boston,  Bishop ;  number  of  Catholics, 
1,000.  The  Sunday-school  has  200  members;  Michael  Healey,  Super- 
intendent; 20  teachers. 

There  is  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  composed  of  young 
men  of  the  several  different  churches,  which  has  been  highly  successful. 
Its  members  hold  prayer-meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  town,  which 
have  been  promotive  of  great  good.  They  have  also  given  courses  of 
literary  lectures  during  the  winters  for  several  years,  which  have  been 
well  received  by  the  public.  The  president  of  the  association  is  Mr. 
Luther  H.  Beals. 

There  are  also  societies  in  the  several  churches  among  the  ladies, 
whose  design  is  social,  religious,  moral  and  literary  improvement,  in 
which,  also,  collections  are  made  from  time  to  time,  of  moneys,  which 
are  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  some  good  object. 


BENEVOLENT    SOCIETIES. 

There  are,  of  benevolent  societies,  a  lodge  of  the  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  in  efficient  life ;  a  court  of  the  ancient  order 
of  Forresters,  under  the  name  of  "  Court  of  Plymouth  Rock,  No. 
5119,"  with  a  financial  membership  of  52,  which  meets  bi-monthly; 
the  "  Phoanix  Lodge  of  Good  Templars,  No.  135,"  with  a  member- 
ship of  115;  the  "  Woronoco  Division  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance," 
with  a  membership  of  130;  and  Post  41,  of  the  "Grand  Army  of  the 


APPENDIX.  217 


Republic,"  with  a  membership  of  46.  These  organizations  are  all  in 
vigorous  and  healthy  operation.  Of  the  condition  of  the  order  of 
"  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,"  it  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  say 
anything,  as  this  is  to  be  treated  of  by  another  pen. 


EDUCATION. 

The  educational  wants  of  the  town  are  met  by  twenty-five  public 
schools,  arranged  in  four  grades,  besides  one  supported  as  a  union 
school  between  this  town  and  South  wick.  Every  alternate  year  this 
school  is  under  the  direction  of  the  Westfield  school  committee.  These 
schools  are  taught  by  thirty-one  teachers,  paid  by  the  town.  The 
different  grades  are,  "  Primary,"  "  Intermediate,"  "  Grammar,"  and 
"  High."  By  taking  the  full  course  of  the  different  grades,  a  boy  can 
be  fitted  to  enter  college,  as  in  them,  all  branches  necessary  to  this  are 
taught,  including  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  French  languages.  The 
teachers  of  the  High  school,  are  Abner  E.  Gibbs,  A.  M.,  Principal; 
David  B.  Furber,  A.  B.,  Teacher  of  Classics ;  Miss  Ellen  S.  Smith, 
and  Miss  Sara  M.  Kneil,  Teachers  of  English  branches;  and  Miss 
Margaret  Gleason,  Teacher  of  Vocal  Music. 

The  building  occupied  by  this  school,  was  erected  in  1854,  for  the 
use  of  the  Westfield  Academy,  an  institution  of  deserved  reputation  in 
the  town  in  former  years,  but  the  great  improvement  in  the  public 
schools  of  high  grade  in  this  town  and  vicinity,  rendered  the  patronage 
extended  to  the  Academy,  unsupporting,  and  the  buildings  were  pur- 
chased by  the  town,  at  a  cost  of  $35,000,  for  the  use  of  the  Htgh 
school ;  and  this  school  probably  gives  as  full  opportunities  for  an  edu- 
cation, as  the  Academy,  in  its  best  days.  By  the  terms  of  purchase, 
the  purchase  money,  with  accruing  interest,  must  be  expended  for 
educational  purposes  in  the  town. 

The  School  of  Observation,  takes  its  name  from  its  relation  to  the 
State  Normal  school.  The  State  pays  $500  annually  to  its  support, 
on  condition  that  its  modes  of  teaching  be  according  to  the  approved 
methods  of  the  Normal  system,  and  that  the  pupils  of  the  Normal 
school  shall  be  welcome  to  enter  and  witness  the  practical  illustrations 
of  the  methods  taught  them  in  the  Normal.  By  this  arrangement,  the 
inhabitants  sending  pupils  there,  have  the  advantage  of  a  school  taught 
by  the  best  of  teachers.  The  school  has  three  grades  :  Primary,  taught 
by  Miss  Cynthia  Cooke ;  Intermediate,  taught  by  Miss  Charlotte  E. 
Doming ;  and  Grammar,  taught  by  Mr.  John  H.  Haldeman  and  Martha 
28 


218  WESTFIELD    BI-CENTENNIAL. 

E.  Roys.     This  school  is  deservedly  held  in  high  esteem,  not  only 
by  those  sending  pupils  to  it,  but  by  the  community  at  large. 

The  Davis  school  takes  its  name  from  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Davis,  a 
gentleman  held  in  high  repute  by  the  citizens  of  the  town,  for  his  many 
virtues,  but  more  particularly  for  his  interest  in  the  cause  of  popular 
education.  In  this  school,  also,  there  are  three  departments  or  grades, 
as  in  the  School  of  Observation.  The  same  branches  are  taught. 

The  Grammar  department  of  this  and  the  School  of  Observation  are 
the  two  Grammar  schools  of  the  town.  To  these  all  the  inhabitants  are 
entitled  to  send  pupils,  and  from  them  the  pupils  graduate  with  equal 
privileges  to  the  High  school.  The  principal  of  the  Grammar  depart- 
ment is  James  F.  Hayes ;  Miss  S.  L.  Bodurtha,  Assistant;  Miss  Martha 
L.  Ingersoll  has  charge  of  the  Intermediate,  and  Miss  Ella  S.  Eggles- 
ton  of  the  Primary. 

The  other  public  schools  in  the  town,  are  Primary  and  Intermediate, 
and  occupy  a  subordinate  relation.  All  appear  in  a  good  degree  of 
prosperity  and  efficiency. 

The  school  system  of  the  town  is  directly  in  charge  of  the  Central 
Committee,  and  has  been  for  the  last  six  years.  The  committee  have 
full  control  of  every  matter  relating  to  the  schools  under  the  statutes. 
Rules  have  been  established  and  published  for  the  guidance  of  all  in- 
terested, a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  deposited,  also  a  copy  of  the  last 
report  made  by  the  committee,  which  will  more  fully  explain  our  edu- 
cational policy,  give  the  condition  of  the  schools  during  the  year  pre- 
ceding, and  also  the  salaries  paid  the  different  teachers.  The  schools 
are  supported  from  the  taxes  of  our  inhabitants,  and  no  tax  is  more 
cheerfully  paid.  No  reasonable  appropriation  asked  for  by  the  com- 
mittee is  denied. 

The  Normal  school  is  a  State  Institution,  and  is  conducted  under 
the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Education.  We  herewith  deposit  a  copy 
of  its  catalogue  for  the  year  ending  July  16,  1868.  The  Principal  is 
now  traveling  in  Europe,  and  is  to  return  next  October.  The  influence 
which  this  school  exerts  in  favor  of  correct  methods  of  teaching,  not 
only  in  this  vicinity  and  State,  but  throughout  the  great  West,  is  a 
source  of  satisfaction  and  pride  to  all  lovers  of  a  good  education. 
Schools  having  the  same  general  objects  before  them,  are  springing  into 
existence  in  many  parts  of  the  country  in  consequence.  The  whole 
number  of  pupils  the  present  term  is  134.  Number  of  present  grad- 
uating class,  32. 

It  is  in  contemplation  to  establish  in  this  school  an  advanced  grade 
to  fit  more  thoroughly  and  completely  teachers  for  the  High  schools 


APPENDIX.  219 

of  the  Commonwealth.  The  contract  for  an  enlargement  of  the  present 
building  (a  wood  cut  of  which  will  be  found  in  the  catalogue  deposited,) 
for  this  purpose  has  been  made  with  Mr.  George  Green,  a  citizen  and 
builder  of  the  town.  The  General  Court  made  an  appropriation  of 
$12,000  for  this  purpose  at  its  present  session.  For  more  specific  and 
detailed  statements  in  reference  to  this  school,  we  refer  the  reader  to 
the  printed  catalogue  deposited  herewith.  There  is  one  private  school, 
under  the  efficient  and  successful  management  of  Mrs.  Samuel  Fowler. 
It  is  a  young  ladies'  seminary,  composed  of  boarding  and  day  scholars; 
the  number  of  pupils,  about  30. 

The  Atheneum  was  incorporated  in  1864.  The  building  was  erected 
by  Hiram  Harrison,  Esq.,  now  deceased,  in  1866,  and  donated  by  him 
to  the  corporation.  Mr.  Samuel  Mather,  a  native  of  the  town,  but  at 
the  time  a  resident  of  Hartford,  Ct.,  donated  $10,000  to  the  institu- 
tion, the  income  of  which  only  is  to  be  used  in  defraying  running 
expenses,  such  as  the  salary  of  the  librarian,  fuel,  lights,  etc.  Over 
$10,000  have  been  subscribed  by  citizens  and  others,  for  the  purchase 
of  books,  periodicals,  newspapers,  etc.  Between  800  and  900  vol- 
umes were  donated  by  the  citizens,  in  addition  to  the  cash  subscriptions. 
There  are  now  in  the  library,  2,375  bound  volumes,  besides  pamphlets 
and  periodicals.  Any  person  may  draw  books  upon  an  annual  pay- 
ment of  $2.00,  and  the  reading  of  papers  and  periodicals  in  the  library 
rooms,  is  free. 


BI-CENTENNIAL   YEAR. 

This  is  the  bi-centennial  year  of  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  and 
it  is  in  contemplation  to  commemorate  the  event  in  a  manner  worthy  of 
the  town,  and  the  associations  of  the  past.  We  deposit  herewith  a 
fac-simile  of  the  original  act  of  incorporation  taken  from  the  archives 
of  the  State,  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth.  The 
act  took  effect,  May  28, 1669. 


220  WESTFIELD  BI-CENTENNIAL. 


DECENNIAL  GROWTH  OF  WESTFIELD  FROM  1765  TO  1870. 

The  first  census  taken  in  this  Commonwealth  was  made  in  1765, 
under  provincial  authority.  At  that  time  Westfield  included  within 
her  territorial  limits  the  towns  of  Southwick,  Russell  and  part  of  Mont- 
gomery ;  her  population  was  1,324,  of  which  41  were  negroes.  She 
had  191  dwellings  and  195  families.  November  17,  1770,  Southwick 
was  set  off  and  incorporated  as  a  separate  district.  At  the  succeeding 
census,  which  was  taken  in  1776,  the  population  of  Westfield  was  1,488. 
November  28,  1780,  Montgomery  was  incorporated  as  a  town,  but  by 
this  Westfield  probably  lost  but  few  of  her  population.  The  third 
census  and  the  first  taken  under  the  authority  of  the  general  govern- 
ment was  made  in  1790,  and  gives  the  population  of  the  town  at  2,204. 
February  28,  1792,  Russell  was  set  off  and  incorporated  as  an  inde- 
pendent town.  At  the  following  census  taken  in  1HOO,  our  population 
shows  a  slight  falling  off,  it  being  2,185.  But  Southwick  and  Mont- 
gomery show  a  population,  the  former  of  840,  and  the  latter  440. 
Since  1792  the  boundaries  of  Westfield  have  remained  substantially 
intact,  and  we  purpose  to  give  in  this  paper  her  population  for  each  de- 
cennium  with  the  ratio  of  increase  or  decrease,  commencing  with  the 
present  century. 

In  1800,  the  population  of  the  town  was  2,185;  in  1810,  2.130, 
showing  a  decrease  of  50,  or  a  little  over  two  per  cent.  In  1820  her 
population  was  2,668 ;  increase,  438,  or  a  fraction  over  twenty  and  a 
half  per  cent.  In  1830  the  population  was  2,940,  the  increase  272, 
the  ratio  a  fraction  over  ten  per  cent.  In  1840  the  population  was 
3,526;  increase  576,  the  ratio  nineteen  and  a  half  per  cent,  and  a 
fraction  over.  At  this  time  the  construction  of  the  Boston  and  Albany 
Railroad  through  the  town  was  commenced.  In  1850  the  population 
was  4,180 ;  increase,  554 ;  ratio  very  nearly  eighteen  per  cent.  In 
1860  the  population  was  5,055 ;  increase,  875 ;  ratio  a  fraction  less  than 
twenty  per  cent.  In  1870  the  population  is  returned  at  6,679  ;  in- 
crease, 1,624,  the  ratio  being  over  thirty-two  per  cent.  At  no  period 
in  her  history  have  all  the  elements  of  a  healthy  prosperity  been  more 
vigorous  and  thrifty  than  at  the  present  time.  We  append  the  follow- 
ing from  the  census  taken  the  present  year,  (1870),  by  the  United  States 
assistant  marshal,  Darwin  H.  Bunnell,  Esq.  Number  of  dwellings  in 
town,  1,080;  families,  1,380;  inhabitants,  6,679  ;  colored  people,  63  ; 
born  in  foreign  countries,  969  ;  number  of  farms  producing  more  than 
$500  per  year,  172 ;  number  of  manufacturing  establishments,  80 ; 


APPENDIX.  221 

number  of  deaths  in  the  year  ending  June  1,  1870,  136 ;  oldest  per- 
son in  town,  Lucy  Eoot,  94,  (deceased  since  census  was  completed.) 


Copy  of  the  deed  of  Conkepot  and  others,  referred  to  in  the  ad- 
dress of  Mr.  Bates,  on  page  67,  of  the  tracts  of  land,  embracing  the 
present  territory  of  Sheffield,  Great  Barrington,  Egremont,  Alford, 
Mount  Washington,  and  Boston  Corner.  It  was  copied  from  the  an- 
cient Book  of  Records  of  the  Lower  Housatonic  Proprietary,  by  Hon. 
Increase  Sumner,  and  forwarded  by  him  to  S.  G.  Drake,  Esq.,  Secre- 
tary New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society,  and  published  in  their 
Register,  for  the  year  1854,  from  which  it  is  now  taken.  Considering 
the  large  extent  of  the  tract,  so  purchased  by  Captain  Ashley, — after- 
wards Judge  Ashley  of  Westfield, — the  consideration  was  rather  inade- 
quate, even  to  its  value  at  that  time.  The  appropriate  place  for  the 
introduction  of  this  deed,  would  have  been  in  connection  with  the  cop- 
ies of  the  other  deeds  printed  herein,  but  it  was  accidentally  laid  aside, 
until  too  late  for  insertion  there. 

INDIAN  DEED  OF  GREAT  BARRINGTON,  &c. 

Know  all  Men  by  these  presents  that  we,  Conkepot  Poneyote — Par- 
tarwake — Naurnauquin — Waenenocow — Nawnausquan — Cauconaugh- 
feet — Nonamcaunet —  Naunhamiss— Sunkhunk— Popaqua— Taunkhon  k  - 
pus — Tartakim —  Sauncokehe —  Cancannap  —  Sunkiewe  —  Nauheag — 
Mauchewaufeet — John  Van  Gilder — Pinaskenet — all  of  Housatonack 
— allias  Westonook,  in  New  England,  in  ye  province  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  :  for  &  in  consideration  of  a  valuable  sum  well  secured  by 
bond  viz — Four  Hundred  and  Sixty  Pounds — Three  Barrels  of  Sider 
&  thirty  quarts  of  Rum  :  bearing  date  with  these  Presents,  under  ye 
hand  &  seal  of  Capt  John  Ashley  of  Westfield  in  ye  County  of  Hamp- 
shire ;  we  have  given,  granted,  bargained,  sold,  aliened,  conveyed  & 
confirmed,  and  doe  by  these  presents,  fully,  clearly  and  absolutely  give, 
grant,  bargain,  sell,  allinate,  convey  &  confirm  unto  Col  John  Stoddard, 
Capt  John  Ashley,  Capt  Henry  Dwight  &  Capt  Luke  Hitchcock,  Esqrs, 
all  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  Committee  appointed  by  ye  General 
Court  to  purchase  a  certain  Tract  of  land  lying  upon  Housatonack 
River,  allias  Westonook,  in  order  for  the  settling  two  towns  there,  and 
unto  such  as  ye  Committee  have  or  shall  admit  in  order  for  ye  settling  of 
said  Towns,  to  them,  their  Heirs  &  assigns  a  certain  Tract  or  parcel  of 
land,  Meadow,  swamp  &  upland,  lying  on  ye  River  aforesaid  butted  & 


222  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL. 

bounded  as  followeth,  viz  : — Southardly  upon  ye  divisional  line  between 
the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay :  and  the  colony  of  Connecticut  in 
New  England — Westardly  on  ye  patten  or  colony  of  New  York,  north- 
ardly  upon  ye  Great  mountain  known  by  ye  name  of  Manskuseetioank* 
— and  Eastardly  to  run  Four  miles  from  ye  aforesaid  River — and  in  a 
general  way  so  to  extend — Furthermore  it  is  to  be  understood  that  ye 
abovesaid  Indians  reserve  to  themselves  within  the  aforesaid  Tract  of 
land,  described  by  bounds  and  butments,  Southardly  on  a  Brook  on  ye 
west  side  Housatonack  River,  known  by  the  name  of  Mannanpe- 
nokcan  and  Northardly  to  a  small  brook  lying  between  ye  aforesaid 
Brook  and  ye  River  called  Wampanikseeport — allias  White  River  :f 
viz  All  ye  land  between  ye  aforesaid  Brooks  from  said  Westonook  River 
extending  unto  ye  patten  of  the  Colleny  of  New  York — Together  with 
a  clear  Meadow,  between  the  aforesaid  small  Brook  extending  North- 
ardly unto  ye  aforesaid  White  River ;  viz,  the  aforesaid  Indians  reserve 
to  themselves  all  ye  land  between  ye  Brooks  running  due  West  line 
from  ye  mouth  of  sd  Brooks  unto  ye  patten  of  ye  Colleny  of  New  York 
aforesaid — And  we  ye  aforesaid  Indians  doe  for  ourselfs,  our  heirs  Ex- 
ecutors &  Administrators,  Covenant  promise  and  grant  to  &  with  the 
aforesaid  Committee  &  such  as  they  have  or  shall  admit  of  for  Planters 
of  sd  Townships — That  before  the  ensealing  hereof,  we  ye  sd  Indians  are 
ye  true,  sole  &  lawful  owners  of  ye  aforegranted  premises  and  are  law- 
fully seized  and  possessed  of  the  same  in  our  own  proper  right,  as  a 
good  perfect  &  absolute  estate  of  inheritance  in  fee  simple,  and  have  in 
ourselfs  good  right,  full  power  &  lawful  authority  to  grant,  bargain,  sell, 
convey  &  confirm  sd  bargained  premises  in  manner  aforesaid — And  ye 
scl  Committee  &  such  as  they  shall  or  may  admit  for  Inhabitants  of  sd 
Townshipps  to  them  their  heirs  and  assigns  shall  &  may  from  time  to 
time  and  at  all  times  hereafter  by  virtue  of  these  Presents,  lawfully  & 
peacibly  occupie,  Possess  and  enjoy  the  said  bargained  Premises  with 
all  ye  appurtenances,  free  &  clear,  and  clearly  &  freely  acquitted  & 
discharged  of,  from  all  &  all  manner,  former  &  other  Gifts,  Grants, 
Bargains,  Sales,  Jointures,  Mortgages,  Wills,  Devises  &  Incumbrances 
whatsoever — And  furthermore  We  the  sd  Indians,  for  ourselfs  and  for 
sd  Heirs,  Executors  &  Administrators  doe  covenant  &  engage  to  secure 
&  defend  ye  sd  bargained  Premises  unto  them  the  aforesaid  Committee, 
and  to  such  persons  as  the  sd  Committee  have  or  shall  admit  in  order  to 
ye  settling  sd  Towns,  to  them  or  their  Heirs  &  Assigns  forever — against 
ye  the  lawful  claims  &  demands  of  any  Person  or  Persons  whatsoever 
— In  witness  whereof,  we  the  aforesaid  Indians  have  hereunto  set  our 

*Now  called  Monument  Mountain.          tNow  called  Green  River. 


APPENDIX.  223 

hands  and  seals  this  25th  day  of  April,  in  ye  tenth  year  of  his  Majisty's 
rign  and  in  ye  year  of  or  one  thousand  seven  hundred  &  twenty  four : 
Signed,  sealed  &  deld  in 
presence  of  us — Comact  Borghghart 

Benjamin  Smith 

John  Gun  Jun 

Samuel  Bartlett 

Conkepot,  his  mark  X  seal 

Poneyote,  his  mark  )  :  seal 

Pota  wakeont,  his  mark    T   seal 

Naunausquan,  his  mark  ©  seal 

Wanenocow,  his  mark  'H  seal 

Naunauquin,  his  mark    <i'   seal 

Conconaughpeet,  his  mark  G'  seal 

Nonaucauneet,  his  mark   k'   seal 

Paunopescennot,  his  mark   Y   seal 

Covconofeet,  his  mark  B:  seal 

Naunlramiss,  his  mark  E'  seal 

Sunkhonk,  his  mark    (:    seal 

Popaqua,  his  mark    R  seal 

Taunk  honk  pus,  his  mark   T.  seal 

Tatakim,  his  mark  0:  seal 

Saunkokehe,  his  mark    2    seal 

Cancanwap,  his  mark    9    seal 
Saunkewenaugheag,        his  mark    §    seal 

Mauchewanfeet,  his  mark   X-  seal 

John  Vangilder,  his  mark  V:  seal 

Ponaskenet,  his  mark    §    seal 

The  aforesaid  is  a  Copy  of  ye  Deed  given  by  the  Indians  for  ye 
Housatonack  Land — Examined  by  me— 

Ebener  Pomroy  by  order 
Acknowledged  before 

John  Ashly,  J.  P. 


224  WESTFIELD   BI-CENTENNIAL 


NOTE. 

The  intelligent  reader  will  of  course  notice  a  few  typographical  and 
grammatical  errors  in  the  foregoing  pages,  which  have  escaped  the 
notice  of  the  different  persons,  by  whom  the  proofs  were  corrected. 
Such  errors  are  to  be  expected,  when  the  corrections  are  not  entrusted 
to  a  single  person.  Of  necessity,  this  could  not  have  been  done,  in 
the  preparation  of  this  volume,  as  occasional  absences  prevented  it. 

The  Committee  have  been  assisted  in  the  work,  by  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Bates,  and  Hon.  T.  Kneil;  the  "Introduction,"  and  the  account  of 
the  "Preliminary  Proceedings"  having  been  written  by  Mr.  Bates, 
and  the  Proceedings  at  Table,  and  the  subsequent  parts  of  the  narra- 
tive by  Mr.  Kneil.  The  "Address  of  Welcome  "  of  Mr.  Gillett,  and 
the  "Response"  of  Mr.  Eldredge,  as  also  the  "Report  of  the  Speeches 
at  Table,"  were  for  the  most  part  made  up  from  the  report  in  the 
Times,  and  few  brief  notes  made  thereof,  and  were  not  revised  by  the 
authors. 


ERRATA. 

On  page  70  omit  the  from  the  first  three  lines  of  poetry. 
On  page  77,  eighteenth  line  from  the  top,  for  and  read  as. 


Index. 


Letter  of  Committee  to  Mr.  Bates,  ....        3 

Mr.  Bates'  Reply,      .....  4 

Introduction,               .....  5 

Preliminary  Proceedings,       ......        9 

Town-meeting,  July  3,  1869,             .            .            .  .  .10 

General  Committee  of  35,,     .            .            .            .  .  .11 

Committees  on  Celebration.               .            .            .  .  .12 

Programme,    ........       15 

Exercises  in  Church,              .            .            .            .  .  .22 

Original  Hymn  by  Mrs.  Ellen  E.  Barr,         .            .  .  .23 

Address  of  Welcome  by  Hon.  E.  B.  Gillett,            .  .  .24 

Response  by  Hon.  John  B.  Eldredge,           .            .  .  .27 

Original  Stanzas  by  Miss  F.  B.  Bates,         .            .  .  .29 

Mr.  Bates'  Historical  Address,         <                        .  '      37 
The  Dinner,    ........      85 

Speech  by  Hon.  H.  G.  Knight,         .            .            .  .  .86 

"      Hon.  Charles  R.  Ladd,    .            .            .  .  .87 

"      E.  V.  B.  Holcomb,  Esq.,             .            .  .  .89 

"      Rev.  Dr.  S.  R.  Ely,           .            .            .  .  .90 

"      Hon.  William  G.  Bates,              .            .  .  .92 

"      Rev.  Ambrose  Day,         .            .            .  .  .94 

"      Rev.  E.  H.  Richardson,  .            .            .  .  .95 

"      Captain  P.  Solomon,        .            .            .  .  .97 

"      Rev.  H.  Hopkins,             .            .            .  .  .98 

;i      Captain  L.  F.  Thayer,     .            .            .  .101 

"      P.  C.  Bliss,  Esq.,             .            .            .  .  .103 

"      John  W.  Dickinson,  Normal  School.      .  .  .     104 

"      James  C.  Grconough,     "                          .  .100 


226  INDEX. 

Letter  of  Rev.  Hiram  Bingham,       .  .  .  .  .107 

Original  Song  of  Mr.  George  Stowe,  ....     108 

"        Stanzas  by  Mrs.  J.  M.  Loomis,      .  .  .  .110 

"      Miss  S.  M.  Kneil,         .  .  .  .112 

Incorporation  of  Westfield,  .  121 

Bounds  Established,  .......     122 

Westfield  Records,  1658-69, 122 

"       Remonstrance,  1676,          .  .  .  .  .124 

"       Petition  for  New  Additions,  1736,  .  .  .127 

Distribution  of  Outer  Commons,  1731,        .  .  .  .129 

"  of  Charity  Lands  in  Inner  Commons,  1733,    .  .     130 

of  Inner  Commons,  1733,         .  .  .  .131 

Porting  the  Town,  1747,        .  .  .  .  .  .132 

Prices  of  Articles  and  Labor  Established,  1777,     .  .  .     133 

Letters  of  Regret  and  Acceptance,  .  .  .  .     136 

Joshua  Atwater, 'Edwardsville,  111.,  ....     139 

R.  A.  Chapman,  Chief-Justice  Supreme  Judicial  Court,    .  .     140 

Prof.  George  W.  Benedict,  Burlington,  Vt.,  .  .  .     141 

L.  F.  Allen,  Esq.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 142 

G.  H.  Loomis,  Esq.,  Boston,  .....     145 

Cornelius  Hedges,  Esq. ,  Helena  City,  Montana  Territory,  .     145 

J.  Sibley,  Judge,  etc.,  Quincy,  HI.,  ....     146 

Mr.  William  L.  Atwater,  New  -York  City,  .  .  .  .147 

Mr.  Henry  F.  Terry,  Santa  Rosa,  Cal. ,       .  .  .  .     150 

Mr.  O.  R.  Ingersoll,  New  York  City,          .  .  .  .151 

Henry  W.  Taylor,  Esq. ,  Canandaigua,        ....     152 

"A  Model  Love  Letter,"  Rev.  Edward  Taylor,    .  .  .157 

Emigration  to  Lewis  County,  N.  Y. ,  and  Letter  from  W.  Hud- 
son Stephens,          ......     159 

Extinguishment  of  Indian  Title,       .....     161 

Alquat's  Deed,  June,  1669,  .  .  .  .  .162 

Joseph  Atherton's  Deed,  1702,         .  .  .  .  .164 

Pictures  of  Westfield  as  it  was,  from  No.  1  to  No.  18,      .  .     166 

Westfield  as  it  is,       ..  .  .  .  .  .207 

Decennial  Growth  of  Westfield,  from  1765  to  1870,  .  .    220 

Indian  Deed  of  Great  Barrington,    .....    221 


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